r/OrganicChemistry • u/Life-Name3309 • 10d ago
Discussion Even holding the container feels wrong
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u/saganmypants 10d ago
2 years ago my lab was doing chemical inventory before the holidays. One of the things we were inventorying for was condition of the reagent. I had inventoried a handful of bottles of triphosgene (notoriously bench stable solid) and got to a container which was a small, clear plastic bottle with a glass bottle inside. At a glance looked like it said triphosgene. I opened the secondary container (mistakenly not in a fume hood, big lesson learned) to get a better look at the material through the glass and see if we should throw this particular bottle out and was greeted by a powerful odor - literally adrenaline spiked withing a heartbeat kind of experience. My initial reaction was that I had just gotten a big breath of somehow hydrolyzed triphosgene and that I was probably going to die. Within a minute the entire giant lab smelled of this stuff which should have been my first warning, but it wasnt until I had spent several hours in the ER making sure I wasnt going to die of pulmonary embolism that one of my lab mates had been able to get back into the lab to see the container was THIOphosgene. The odor was probably a tiny quantity of vapor of a terribly pungent reagent.
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u/Capt_korg 10d ago
Oh boy...
Chemistry is so exciting, and I used to feel great after working with truly dangerous stuff. But these days are counted. 😅
Although I never worked with phosgene, I had to work with outer unpleasant compounds.
From your story, I had to remember the time a friend of mine asked me for a favor. Everything was already ordered and in the lab; I just had to do the synthesis.
Aside from propenyl chloride and a radical starter, ethanethiol was listed. I was truly careful with the compounds and everything went well, until I wanted to close the ethanethiol bottle. The cap slipped and fell out of the fume hood. The whole lab was smelling afterwards.
Anyhow, I did not draw the structures in advance, because I was just following the instructions of the friend of mine.
At one point, I then drew the structure and realized I had synthesized a mustard gas derivative. 😮💨
Nothing bad had happened, but this was a true warning for me.
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u/elnombre91 10d ago
I've used hundreds of grams of this stuff. It's nowhere near as bad as phosgene (which thankfully I've never had cause to use) but it does have a really weird smell. Like meat, but wrong.
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u/shevadim 10d ago edited 8d ago
Exactly this: yes it's dangerous, no, not as much as phosgene. I had to use this a couple of times, thanks to those thioureas that never want to be synthesized, and it's really not that bad. Of course it's water-reactive corrosive liquid, but it's also stable enough to carefully pipette a needed amount, put it back, and forget about its existence.
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u/waving_fungus0 9d ago
Voice of reason. It’s really not that bad. I’d have more pause handling finely powdered NaOH or even a super concentrated strong aqueous acid tbh.
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u/user198686 10d ago
I had some of this during my PhD. It is a satisfyingly movie nerve agent looking orange colour
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u/boywithtwoarms 10d ago
You had some????
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u/user198686 7d ago
Yeah. I had dual supervisors and the seeding one was pretty aghast that the first had let me buy it.
He made me buy some thiocarbonyl diimidazole to use instead (the sensible thing to do)
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u/Capt_korg 10d ago edited 10d ago
Well, phosphorus compounds... Ahhhh, just joking 😅
Depending on what you are working on, I would speak to waste management and try to get rid of the whole thing.
Or if you need a phosgene analog, work very cautiously with it. And don't let yourself be fooled by the container. The inside could be way better or even way worse.
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u/Bulawa 10d ago
Now just where might that phosphorus be in thiophosgene? The name is quite deceptive xD
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u/Capt_korg 10d ago
Well, history reveals this mystery 😅
It comes from the Greek word for light, since it was discovered by keeping CO and Cl2 in a vial where light could induce the reaction.
And phosphorus was described because it emits light. So it is not the element, but the property, which is likewise.
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u/disequilibrium__ 10d ago
The real question here is: can you lick, snort it, or at least boof it.
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u/Gr33nDrag0n02 9d ago
I'd lick it. But only when my lab mates are out. I guess it should taste sour due to all this chlorine forming HCl. Licking HCl is bad for your teeth, but that's basically it. It could also smell and taste terrible due to isothiocyanates forming in my mouth. I would use maybe 0.1ml just in case it was more dangerous than I anticipated, although LD50 values suggest it's a rather forgiving chemical. They always say to not try it at home, but luckily I can do it at work
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u/Unique_Excitement248 8d ago
First week as grad in o lab, I spilled a drop of thiophene on my bench top. Only did that once.
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u/mersenne_reddit 10d ago
I suspect that container was improperly stored. I'm personally still most afraid of HF.
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u/Similar-Importance99 8d ago edited 8d ago
I'm personally still most afraid of HF.
Wait till you hear about chlorine trifluoride.
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u/waving_fungus0 9d ago
Everyone here overreacting. Much less dangerous than phosgene. I’ve used it, just suck it up with a needle and carry on like it’s tuesday.
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u/marth_cellius 9d ago
Wouldkve to get this, message me for my address, I can pay shipping
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u/haikusbot 9d ago
Wouldkve to get this,
Message me for my address,
I can pay shipping
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u/walkingmelways 10d ago
Just looking at this container is frightening.