Acetic Anhydride Part 1: The Ketene Lamp

[@haugstule]

This is extremely good content, you are very innovative.... i feel like donating, do you have a patreon account?

[@DougsLab]

+haugstule I do! I just created it 2 days ago. www.patreon.com/DougsLab

[@bigredinfinity3126]

What type of wire did you use for the filament

[@ryans3442]

Nichrome

[@BuickDoc]

Glory be! I thought I was the only person alive to have used a ketene generator! I spent many hours using one in graduate school back when dinosaurs ruled the earth...

[@ТулкинДжураев-з8ж]

excuse me. What kind of metal wire is made of keten lamp?

[@vapenation7061]

@@ТулкинДжураев-з8жnickel-chrome alloy, commonly called nichrome wire

[@christopherleubner6633]

One very easy way to make it is fine steel wool in a strongly heated quartz heater tube or borosilicate tube. The ketene generated is in a large amount so be careful.

[@edgeeffect]

Wow... don't ground glass joints (do you call them "quickfit" in North America?) make it so much easier to make you own apparatus. Back in the old days, you're looking at a glassworking nightmare there.

[@bpark10001]

You mention the extreme toxicity of ketene versus hydrogen cyanide. But I note its violent reaction with water (to form acetic acid). It would seem that in any realistic atmosphere (such as the humid Florida atmosphere you have) that any ketene that escaped would instantly be converted to acetic acid, harmless as a poison. (Versus cyanide, which is not destroyed in the atmosphere.) Since ketene + water = acetic acid, is ketene acetic acid anahydride?

[@tracnemaker123]

I'd say it won't. Maybe in a 25 meter radius you can assure yourself a survival but 5 meters won't make a guarantee. I think the vapors don't get reacted all the way. I think it reacts with the surface of the vapors. Then the next layer/surface untill it's gone. Since it's so toxic, I would assume it's not wise to bet on water reactions. Better to have a proper gas mask or something like that. Honestly, I think phosphorus pentachloride is even safer for this experiment, even taking into consideration the leftover phosphorus trichloride.

[@rolfparker6383]

@@tracnemaker123 There are lotteries where you might win a million dollars. This seems like a gamble with no good prize.

[@rolfparker6383]

Ketene gas may be the chemical agent that was responsible for the 68 people who died of EVALI, and the others who ended up with permanent lung damage. It's not known if it was one chemical or more than one, but ketene is a strong candidate. Vitamin-E accetate is converted to ketene at temperatures seen in vape pens. THC-acetates also end up as ketenes, when temps get high enough. Lung injury aint pretty.

[@lucasmaugeri5372]

Awesome videos, man! Really informative and helpful. Are you aware, though, that ketene is a dangerous poison with effects similar to phosgene but with much more rapid onset? I see you have some sort of fume cupboard in your lab and you must know what you're doing, however I would make sure that there's no chance of any gas leak should I have to work with this substance.

[@DougsLab]

+Lucas Maugeri Thanks for your concern! I should have pointed that out in the video in case someone tries to copy this. I have been running the ketene generator carefully for over a week now, and I should be releasing the video about acetic anhydride in a few days. I will definitely be highlighting the toxicity in that video. Otherwise, everything is fine over here. :) And yes, I did some extensive studying.

[@lucasmaugeri5372]

+Doug's Lab Great! Competent - and this includes safety first and foremost - and enthusiatic chemists, with a real passion for what they do and who are willing to share their hardly acquired knowledge are a rare gem nowadays. Keep inspiring the world, bro!

[@dimaminiailo3723]

now I can make several times more RDX. Thanks

[@russellhamner4898]

Hey while you're at it, make some her0in too. I was looking for Heinz brand acetic anhydride down at the Grocery Goblin last month but they didn't have any in stock BECAUSE I MADE IT UP. Hell, there isn't even a store called Grocery Goblin, I just wanted you to think that I was cool.😢

[@dieselphiend]

KZbin should be uploaded to The Library of Congress.

[@Dude8718]

where i always fail with chemistry is building equipment like this. I'm more about theoretical chemistry and when it comes to designing an actual apparatus for stuff i have no idea and its when i rely on people like you :)

[@flow4458]

Haha, experimental guys like me rely on you, perfect symbiosis😆.

[@hughiemac]

how did you connect the nichrome to the copper. Just squish? Won't that corrode?

[@uncletomsrice8056]

reflux with anhydrous sodium acetate.

[@flugschulerfluglehrer]

To make perfect filamentsyou can use a drill.

[@uncletomsrice8056]

I wonder if you could take a mixture of glacial acetic acid and benzoic acid, or some other aromatic carboxylic acid, and make a mixed anhydride with this method.

[@ryans3442]

I think so. Also using mek instead of acetone into GAA gives propionic/acetic anhydride

[@mohamedabouelasaad9980]

@@ryans3442 can u explain how

[@ryans3442]

Replace the propanone (acetone) with 2-butanone (mek)

[@Sparky78739]

Hey Doug how are you mate? Was wanting to know the process of using HCL to make an insoluble product into soluble then precipitate the product out of the HCL mixture, also the correct % of HCL & ether if using the 2 together.

[@chemistryofquestionablequa6252]

We miss you, come back!

[@poprostuprosty4177]

can someone describe how to build power supply for such lamps? or send me to correct website?

[@russellhamner4898]

You really need to use a variac so you can dial in the temperature with precision. I could be wrong, but I think the flash point of the acetone vapor is just barely above the temperature where it transforms into ketene, assuming you haven't flushed the oxygen out of the lamp beforehand through maybe flooding it with a heavy gas like nitrogen before first running it. But yeah, get yourself a variac and a handheld infrared thermometer with a laser sight because 1) you'll need both, and 2) honestly, you deserve them. Spoil yourself!

[@prestonhanson501]

Thank you. This chemical is impossible to get, and very complex to make

[@mishmash6991]

Would a light bulb that was carefully had the glass broken off of work also ?

[@rolfparker6383]

NIOSH has ketene pegged as potentially lethal at 5 ppm.

[@isserperez785]

Buenas tardes podras.ensenarme a preparar chloride propionyl 98 %

[@pavlomukosieiev6588]

one of the simplest and most unsuccessful ketene lamp designs.

[@feelinghealingfrequences7179]

only a few but wow they r scary comments!

[@alish5417]

Doug you are epic I your works is so unique

[@jamesboaz4787]

Do it. PS. Thank you very much for all of your indirect support.

[@jamesboaz4787]

just a quick ? do you know what else can be made with acetic anhydride?

[@petevenuti7355]

Is this the apparatus to make formaldehyde out of methanol with a copper filament?

[@Preyhawk81]

nope you need air for that oxydation

[@ericjuhnke623]

Very cool

[@bruse8778]

That is pretty cool. However isn't the oxygen that's present in the system when you shut the stopper gonna interfere with the pyrolysis?

[@DougsLab]

+Chemistry Yes, but the air will be purged first! If not, there is likely to be an explosion.

[@bruse8778]

+Doug's Lab Ah - well I'm looking forward to part 2. Did organic chemistry start catching your interest? As far as I can recall you've done a lot more of it recently.

[@DougsLab]

+Chemistry Yes, I am mainly interested in organic chem. Most of the inorganic stuff you'll see me do is preparation of catalysts, oxidizing agents, etc. for organic reactions.

[@prestonhanson501]

You can purge the air put with wippets or some other inert gas

[@jhyland87]

Have you gotten raided yet? Just curious.. lol

[@bartacomuskidd775]

Is this really that dangerous of a synthesis?

[@jhyland87]

@@bartacomuskidd775 well, yes. But thats not why he would get in trouble. He would get in trouble because this is the main precursor for converting morphine to heroin. Google how much of this is confiscated every year... Tons and tons.

[@ryans3442]

Florida doesn't have many poppy feilds as far as the eye can see so I think it's a moot point

[@jhyland87]

@@ryans3442 There definitely are poppy fields in Fl, and he also doesn't live in Florida. he lives in the mid west I believe. But people have been busted for having large poppy fields in the United States before. No reason to think that there aren't any currently just because they haven't been caught.

[@youtubecomenter3655]

Is labboy glass good quality?

[@DougsLab]

+KZbincomenter365 I have never had problems with it.

[@bdnugget]

Where did you get that glass bulb? Is it just a bulb for Kugelrohr destillations?

[@David-fh6rr]

bdbdbd It is a solvent reservoir for chromatography

[@ryans3442]

Any new content coming up on your channel bdbdbd?

[@wubblybubbly5558]

Does it have to be nichrome wire, or is it just the temperature that matters?

[@russellhamner4898]

Temperature and nonreactivity I'd imagine. I bet tungsten would work but I'll let the experts chime in. Tungsten is a pain in the ass to do a lot of things with because of its ridiculously melting point.