Smelling Isocyanides: The REAL Stinkiest Chemicals On Earth (WAY Worse Than Thioacetone)

[@LabCoatz_Science]

A moment of silence for Matt's nose.

[@evilotis01]

......and NileRed's cameraman

[@marconiandcheese7258]

F

[@noodlelynoodle.]

A moment of silence for that poor car, it's never gonna smell right again lmfao

[@LabCoatz_Science]

@@noodlelynoodle. Surprisingly, even after being tortured with selenols and isocyanides, that van still smells like it came straight off the lot, lol

[@noodlelynoodle.]

@@LabCoatz_Science that's insane to me lmfao I would never have the confidence to do smelly chemistry in my car I'd be so scared the smell would seep in and never go away lol

[@KU_Fallen]

Crafts chemical weapon in public. Drops it on the ground. Refuses to elaborate.

[@LabCoatz_Science]

I cleaned it all up officer, I swear!

[@craigschwass2327]

The intro makes me want a video of Nilered’s cameraman reacting to all these chemicals 😂

[@That_Chemist]

I bet Reggie could be convinced

[@BioCybergoth]

seeing Nilered's friend suffering with Thioacetone was one the funniest bits in his video, the isocyanides might have him either vomiting or probably landing punches on Nilered just from travelling there with him, I can't wait to see that.

[@TrackpadProductions]

Kinda interesting how the impetus for making this was to understand what it smells like, since all sources reported it only as "indescribable"... Only to discover that it's smell is, in fact, _indescribable._

[@LabCoatz_Science]

Well, partially indescribable...it's like a very weird burning plastic. But yeah, there isn't any one thing I can point to and say "that's what it smells like!"

[@Matoro342]

I'd say it smells like you're being dissolved

[@tktspeed1433]

​@@LabCoatz_Sciencesounds like what N,N-DMT smells like. Or well, the non burnt DMT smells like new offbrand sneakers.

[@00bean00]

@@LabCoatz_Science Have you smelled Me2PhP?

[@L4ftyOne]

​@@tktspeed1433get off your psychosis drugs dude

[@TrackpadProductions]

_"Normally, it would be done with a mixture of tin and hydrochloric acid, but sadly, I’m not normal - and I didn’t have any tin."_

[@GodlikeIridium]

Who doesn't have tin at home? 😂

[@NonEuclideanTacoCannon]

I think context has a big role in how awful something smells. I remember as a kid, sitting in class and smelling the worst fart I'd ever smelled. It turned out to be one of those glass "stink bomb" ampoules, and breaking one and smelling it again later, not having nearly the same reaction. It wouldn't be ethical, but I think the best reactions would be from randos who have no idea what is going on or where the smell came from. Anyway, the worst thing I've ever smelled, was a bucket full of fish parts and pork trimmings that a coworker had mistakenly lidded and was left in an unused building for several months. We popped the lid thinking it was a bucket of semolina and every single one of us threw up.

[@LabCoatz_Science]

I agree that organic smells tend to feel grosser. For example, isocyanides may be unbearably strong, but to me, they aren't super disgusting...unlike butyric acid (the smell of vomit), which is one of the few chemicals to make me feel physically ill from the smell.

[@NonEuclideanTacoCannon]

@@LabCoatz_Science For sure. We're like, evolutionarily wired to be repulsed by biological things that may be infectious. It reminds me of an experiment I read about. They had several white towels, each had been used to wipe up a different color of liquid. Brown, red, yellow, and blue. People were asked which one would be least gross to touch, and everyone said the towel with the blue stains.

[@Paonporteur]

​@@LabCoatz_Sciencethere are people out there who use propionic acid and butyric acid as vinegar (acetic acid) substitutes. Vinegar contains 6% acetic acid and is added to soups and other stuff to add/eliminate flavor. Imagine adding butyric acid 'vinegar' to that instead.

[@StuffandThings_]

@@Paonporteur Could probably get away with using the "fruits" of Ginkgo, which supposedly are edible yet are notorious for their butyric acid content

[@ДАРТАНЬЯН-з2щ]

​@@LabCoatz_Science Hello man. I watched all your stinky chemicals videos and I present a challange for you. You will compare a stench of evaporated mixture of all superstinky chemicals you have ever coocked and the stench of cauldron of horrors. You may ask me what is cauldron of horrors? Well, I will tell you. First of all you need a huge cauldron and open fire underneath it. In this cauldron you mix human #shit, adult male cat urina ( in large amount ) which was collected at least few weeks ago, many rotten eggs, rotten human #cum ( in large amount ), skunk gland secretion ( in large amount ), rotten meat and fish, a lot of superstinky garlic, sweat from socks which were on feet for more than 1 year ( in large amount ) and a lot of fresh #vomit. You need to homogenise that mixture and warm it to the point of boilng. Before and after it boils you should constantly mix this horrific mixture. If you have urge to #piss, to #shit, to #vomit or maybe even to #fap during the process you should do all of that in the cauldron too. After all water is evaporated from the horrific mixture you should let it all burn in the cauldron until nothing but coal remains.

[@lucycarr6065]

NileRed: Tentatively takes small cautious sniff of nastiness, plays up reaction. LabCoatz: Huffs nastiness like a crackhead, has to downplay reaction and resist the urge to puke. Truly a trailblazer.

[@00bean00]

Which chemical? Which reaction to it? All I remember is him saying SBMO was not that bad

[@SixTough]

Absolute chad

[@ImNotQualifiedToSayThisBut]

Nile red didn't play up his reaction though? It was his camera man who kinda died wasn't he

[@auroraourania7161]

@@ImNotQualifiedToSayThisBut Yeah, Nilered didn't have that bad of a reaction, and if they'd decided to play it up, he wouldn't have had his cameraman be the only one to react that way.

[@sipos0]

Descriptions of thioacetone say it actually smells worse in low concentrations than higher ones, which may explain the difference in experience. I have also read a theory that thioacetone is in a equilibrium with something, and it is only one of the forms/chemicals that smells awful, but details aren't well understood.

[@spiderdude2099]

I worked with tert-butyl isocyanide in undergrad. It….has the most IMPOSSIBLE to explain smell. It was definitely unpleasant, but I’d say that thiols smell worse to me. The best description i can give for its scent is: “If you took the juice that falls out of a garbage bag, microwaved it with a rubber tire until the tire burned, and then bubbled chlorine through it.” It truly smelled awful, but in a way I truly CANNOT accurately describe.

[@swarthygiant1463]

That sounds a lot like getting skunked to me. I was absolutely blown away how skunk spray on you smells absolutely nothing like a skunk in the distance. Best description I can is if you took a garbage full of moldy popcorn lit it on fire, but way worse. I’ve been maced and I’d take the mace over the skunk any day lol

[@darren_anscombe]

I love how all you online chemists help each other out despite taking the micky out of each other and possibly be a bit competitive. It's so fun to watch. Cheers !

[@nopenope9366]

CaCl2 can react with amines, so thats probably why it didn’t work well to dry the aniline. Great video by the way! You should do some synthesis of perfumery chemicals for future videos. Also its good for clickbait titles “Turning lice remover into cherry flavor???” for benzyl alcohol -> benzaldehyde for example.

[@alexpotts6520]

Normally when KZbinrs involve their parents in stuff I find it a bit cringe, but your dad is really wholesome and it's clear that he's actually interested in this kind if stuff beyond the usual level of "supporting your kid's hobby.

[@revenevan11]

I agree, it's very wholesome to see!

[@aaronpreston47]

I glad I found you through Nile Red, he’s great but his nose has been throughly destroyed by chemicals and I sincerely doubt his judgment on stink.

[@Pyxis10]

Nile red: These icocyanides don't smell bad. Everyone else: Passed out.

[@chemdelic]

One of your best videos yet brother

[@chemistryofquestionablequa6252]

I recognize that white box your benzene was in. Backyard science 2000 recently hooked me up with a free hotplate since mine died, some wp, and sodium borohydride. Great guy, I've got to get going making videos.

[@coreysayre1376]

I just have stop for a minute to appreciate you all... The great, and often painstaking, amount of detail that is gone into with the overall descriptions of what you guys are smelling is wonderful! Y'all have been consistently amazing throughout this whole saga in this regard, and as someone who also appreciates strange odors from time to time--it's like I'm right there with ya! I'm not a chemist although I do enjoy and dabble in chemistry, nor do I have a particularly sensitive sense of smell so far as I can tell. However, I did begin to notice and pay attention to what sense I do have, quite early on my life. Particularly interesting to me, was just how influential certain odors were to me, such as my affinity for the smell of gasoline smelled as far back as I can recall. Or how some people began to smell 'attractive' before I really knew the meaning of that word as we all acquired our own, 'teen spirit' let's say. All the way to today 2-3 decades later, how I look forward to the smell of diesel exhaust or coffee in the morning. It's always been fascinating how certain odors/scents can cause such potent psychological and/or even physical responses such as my first whiff of ammonia. But I digress, That is all to say, I have paid, perhaps, more attention to smell than the average person, and as such I naturally have a reservoir of highly detailed, odd, and often unpleasant, descriptors in my vocabulary that I often use internally to qualify/identify new ones I come across. It is quite striking to me how similarly you or your father sound to my own internal chatter as you rattle off things like, 'plasticky superglue' (which is as clear to me, as if it had been written in some kind of smell dictionary), and all this has really made me feel like I was in the park right there with you guys. In conclusion, y'all are great at describing what these fascinating and niche odors smell like, and I enjoy that immensely! Thanks for listening to my TEDtalk 😛hope y'all have a good one!

[@yoctoflop]

My poor roommate just received my delivery of n butyl isocyanide because I'm out of state right now. He said it was absolutely vile, made his stomach turn, and smells like "maybe overheated rusted tar aluminum". It's still in the envelope. He literally had to find a place outside to keep it

[@AB-80X]

Where did you buy that?

[@rheoplex]

Shout out to your friends for bearing with that. Also, I loved your comparison of the different isocyanides. After digging a bit, the steric hindrance seems to be the important factor for the different odor intensity of the benzylic and aliphatic isocyanides. So maybe the shorter alkyl isocyanides might be even worse.

[@TheMetalMusicMachine]

Now you've got to do the same but with the nicest smelling chemicals you can synthesize. That would be a nice counterpoint to this saga of videos!!! Esters, long chain aldehydes, terpenes or something like that. Great videos!

[@yorkshirechemist]

coumarin and cinnamic acid both smell bloody lovely, both can be prepared using the Perkin reaction between benzaldehyde/salicylaldehyde and acetic anhydride

[@bromisovalum8417]

There's personal preference too. For example, I really like the smell of 4-ethoxybenzene because it reminds me of the pistachio icecream I used to get as a kid.

[@reloup38]

​@@yorkshirechemisthighly concentrated coumarin can be a bit offensive. There's a type of grass that has a root very rich of coumarin and it can smell pretty bad. But dilute it and it has a wonderful smell. I made syrup from it.

[@midwestchem368]

Dude that was so cool! I'm really happy the n-butylamine and ethanolamine got to be put to something really awesome. I like to see how excited you get for these compounds keep it up man another great video!

[@LabCoatz_Science]

Hey, speaking of the ethanolamine, I've been trying to run the Henry reaction with it, and I've been having some issues. How did you run your reaction between the catechol aldehyde and nitromethane? I ran mine with a few drops of ethanolamine, 0.5g nitromethane, 1.1g aldehyde, and 1-2mL ethanol, and I got a red gooey substance after adding water and cooling in the fridge. How did you get such nice, yellow crystals?

[@midwestchem368]

@@LabCoatz_Science you've probably got some tar or side reactions going on. The reaction of aldehydes and nitromethane is really delicate and can be rapid depending on the conditions. The post i tagged you in a believe that reaction was 1 minute i stopped it because it rapidly went blood red rapidly. A smooth transition to blood red over an hour or more is ok its easy to hit the right point of stopping. Finding a stopping point is a little hard at first because the red color is also normal to see. Try 1g of aldehyde, 1ml of nitromethane, 1ml of ethanol and 1 drop of ethanolamine as a test and if you notice it go dark blood red way too fast(like within a minute) try to stop the reaction by adding a drop or 2 of water. This will precipitate out the product and then ice bath it to get the most out. It is usually easier to control the larger the scale but reagents are precious and nitrostyrenes dont have too many uses. The last most part is everything does need to be dry until you're ready to precipitate the product. Its goes through a beta nitroalcohol intermediate followed by dehydration to the nitroalkene. This is alot of what I know about this reaction and if you want to practice it without wasting aldehydes try to use vanillin as a substitute. I hope this helps man and if you have anymore questions feel free to reach out I'd be more than happy to help!

[@midwestchem368]

@@LabCoatz_Science I forgot did you reflux it? If so what temperature? 45-55c is a good heating range I use a hot water bath. If it's not tar then it's a polymerized product. Also how long did you run the reaction?

[@LabCoatz_Science]

@@midwestchem368 I refluxed it in boiling ethanol directly on the hotplate for about three hours, and then boiled off most of the ethanol after I figured out I had too much (aka, probably too hot for too long, lol). I'm thinking next time I'll try simply warming it in a hot water bath for thirty minutes and then crashing everything out in cold water. I might also try the reaction with little to no solvent...idk, I'm interested to know how you did the reaction!

[@midwestchem368]

@@LabCoatz_Science when you get it then it's very exciting! It's a reaction that loves to hassle people. Try what you said a hot water bath and less reaction time. Ethanolamine tends to reach completion faster than other catalysts. I made a mistake on the proportions i gave in my previous comment. The catalyst is a balancing point too. Too little and the reaction is slow too much then you blow past the end point and will probably have tar like in my case it happened in literally 1 minute which means I used too much catalyst which was 4 or 5 drops to 1g of aldehyde. You're right though it's better to use a little less solvent so it doesn't need to be reduced you can always add more later if you need. If you get the proportions close it should transition to that red color a little more slowly than my 1 minute reaction time. When you get crystals save some if you want to repeat it because seed crystals help alot. You got this man! The best proportions I have found for very small scale are 1g aldehyde, 1ml nitromethane, 1 drop ethanolamine, 0.5-1ml ethanol. You can also add a drop or two of glacial acetic acid before the ethanolamine. This reaction does work a little better with amine acetates but it's not 100% necessary.

[@Dee-nonamnamrson8718]

You're crazy for doing chemistry in the back of your car. People are going to think you're the next Walter White.

[@LabCoatz_Science]

Funny you should mention that...I'm kind of doing a video playing off his line of work

[@StuffandThings_]

@@LabCoatz_Science 🤨

[@StuffandThings_]

I love how despite being quite professional, this has a vibe of hillbilly chemistry

[@OmegaPaladin144]

Man, I am impressed with your work here. Since I work in Lab Safety professionally, I'd really like to see more eye pro, but I really appreciate you actually testing these chemicals.-

[@mrgreenguy]

Doing chemistry in a car scares me haha, nice vid!

[@somerandomcapybara]

Hello sir

[@noodlelynoodle.]

The way the phenyl isocyanide was being described is pretty much the exact way people describe the smell of DMT smoke, a lot of people say it's like burning plastic/rubber/garbage but with organic components to it, it's never smelled bad to me personally and I get more of a jasminey kinda fresh plastic power tool case smell from it usually when I've smelled it when someone's smoking it at a concert but for a lot of people they can't stand the smell whatsoever and this is the only thing I've ever heard the smell described in a similar way

[@nicknorthcutt7680]

DMT doesn't smell too bad, I've smoked it many times. It has an interesting smell but nothing too bad tbh.

[@noodlelynoodle.]

@@nicknorthcutt7680 when smoking it I feel like it smells different to how it does when other people are smoking it just like how weed and tobacco are but dmt has always smelled amazing to me regardless of who's smoking it, part of it could be people who are inexperienced and are actually burning it rather than carefully vaporizing it with a lighter and so they're smelling a harsher version cause they're destroying it rather than just vaporizing it

[@MultipleObjectSelector]

It smells like burning rubber when it is burned rather than vaporized.

[@Slowly_Going_Mad]

I've always thought it smells like crazy old cat lady house. Kinda amine like and somewhat floral it's not that bad.

[@EdwardTriesToScience]

ive happened to have the stupid idea to make phenyl isonitrile on a tiny scale because it supposedly smells bad and yeah i can vouch it smells bad, it simply just is horrible. i agree with the descriptions you and your friends gave, burning sharp odor like plastic/burning fat and an organic smell sorta like seaweed/fish (pyridine imo), the worst part is smelling it leaves a horrific taste in your mouth. a chemist i know told me that a coworker used to work with isonitrile chemistry and the drawer they used for storage still stinks XD ive made thioacetone and yeah isonitriles are simply worse overall

[@brandon-kg2vd]

Your dad's description was super solid and gave me a good idea of the smell

[@bovanshi6564]

The madlad is at it again!

[@larry_k]

You might have heard of gas mask. It is a thing that filters out various chemicals from air you breath. Could be a good idea to use while performing such syntheses ;)

[@theRPGmaster]

You might not be able to find filters for isocyanides. The military ones are generally pretty good at filtering out smells, in my experience, but that'll depend on the chemical.

[@hadeoxdc4312]

that kills the purpose of the video of testing the smells oh so smart one

[@larry_k]

If the goal was to smell all the chemicals involved in synthesis, including byproducts, in uncontrolled way, then yes, sure@@hadeoxdc4312

[@AB-80X]

@@hadeoxdc4312 Not really. You can wear PPE while you're working, and then remove it or the testing.

[@Jellyfishiess]

Hes just collecting bad smells like infinity stones now

[@darren_anscombe]

When you think yellow chemistry is bad. Green chemistry.....hold ma beer, son, watch this.

[@manganstein]

I was working with isocyanides on my PhD and this is the best description of the smell I come up with: “what if the sweet smell could be bad” but this smell isn’t similar to any other group of compounds. In the synthesis of isocyanides the best method I found was dehydratation of formamides with tosyl chloride in quinoline (which kind of stinks itself), but isocyanide vacuum distilled (remember liquid nitrogen trap!) from solution is almost pure (95%, over 99.9% after additional distillation) and yield is usually over 80%. The methods that require extraction and evaporation of solvent works only on very non-volatile isocyanides, in other cases most of the product evaporates with solvents and leftover is still contaminated. Glassware after synthesis of isocyanides can be easy clean by let is sit in diluted acids, it takes usually 1-2days but isocyanide will completely hydrolysed and smell will disappeared.

[@KyussTheWalkingWorm]

One thing that gets missed in discussions about foul chemical smells is that the worst ones don't come from isolated compounds. Decayed organic materials, autoclave stench and military malodors get a good deal of their offensiveness from the fact that they present a rich "bouquet" of smells. Likewise, pure organosulfurs are unpleasant, but they really come into their own as part of a mixture, especially since every low MW sulfur compound stinks in its own way. You haven't lived until a grad student's experiment smells and tastes like the back of your throat got sprayed with aerosolised, burning carnivore shit.

[@Matoro342]

You are a champion of truth. Time for non lethal taste tests.

[@the1only467]

I hate that burning plastic smell. Not plastic burning but that chemical smell that duplicates it but much worse. Burns the nostrils and makes you choke. Good job on your creations my guy. Your father’s description is so perfect.

[@derchromebacher4366]

Entertaining video, give your old man a medal for putting up with your stinky stuff.

[@Dee-nonamnamrson8718]

Are you in Oklahoma? That's crazy. Your budy's shirt is missing an S between the O and U on his shirt, and the color is all wrong. My hometown is just like 30 minutes east of you.

[@NerdlabsSci]

holy shit the stinky chemistry returns yet again! As always, epic video, and I can't wait to see what you make next!

[@iscuit]

Hope u know that these videos are amazing! They're edited simply, but its just all perfect. High quality and feels so genuine. I hope u never stop, ur my favorite chemistry youtuber rn! 💯 wish i could give 100 thumbs up. Greetings from Sweden

[@LabCoatz_Science]

Thanks man, I hope I'll be able to continue posting to this channel throughout my life, with progressively better/more unusual projects! People like you definitely make it worth it!

[@littlecatedward7737]

I just found your channel and think it’s one of my new favorites

[@arentsteen5452]

Enjoyable content. It's videos like these that make me want to do an extra major in chemistry

[@feelinghealingfrequences7179]

excellent narrations good editing great video

[@notmyname327]

Haha why would you synthesize this *in a car*?! Props to everyone involved, really entertaining stuff

[@LabCoatz_Science]

We needed power for the hotplate and didn't have an extension cord long enough to reach the nearby camping tables...and we also didn't want anyone watching and thinking we were cooking meth or something, lol

[@GermanMythbuster]

*Pure distilled Genius at Display in this Video.* 🤩 👍 I Vote he gets the Chemistry Nobel Prize! 👍

[@michaelbell8834]

Yea, Butyl compounds tend to have that effect. Add an isocyanide to that precursor, and it's just a poor match for humans.

[@christopherleubner6633]

Most isocyanide chemicals smell like hot rubber combined with an acrid burning plastic like smell. Actually you can use the stirrer's magnet itself to stirr the steel wool around in the flask.

[@davidhudgens499]

WOW!!!! 1st thank you for sending me this sample, 2nd 🖕🫵 for sending me this sample! Holy Shit that was WAAAYYYY worse than the last one. Honestly I stopped by my mailbox on the way to work today, my plan was to take this sample to work and have them try it like the last one. As soon as I got it out of the mailbox (STILL SEALED in the package) I could smell the HORRIBLE 🤢🤮 burnt rubber/plastic chemical smell. THERE WAS NO WAY I was going to put it in my car let alone take it to work. So when I got off work I got it out of my mailbox, (smelled the package again) 🤢 and directly threw it away in an outside garage can. WOW, you truly have out done yourself. I really believe if someone would leave this in a building, they would evacuate it, seriously! I don’t think I will be getting any more samples from you. But, I very much enjoy your videos and hope you continue! 👍👍

[@stockstreamtwitch]

Great work! Thanks for testing multiple chemicals in a single video. 👍

[@SimonBlokky]

I've worked with these chemicals for a few months and they are, to this day, the worst things I've ever smelled. My supervisor would sometimes hold a flask under my nose as an 'analytical test' for the presence of these horrible smelling compounds. It may sound funny, but I'd rather be kicked in my nuts than smell one of those chemicals in those quantities ever again. Obviously, I quit my job there. Even when I smell the slightest whiff on the lab where I'm working now, I get traumas from isocyanides. Maybe the best description of the isocyanide smell, just like you mention in your first reactions in this video, is that you don't smell these compounds with your nose: you feel them in your nose, throat, sinuses and lungs. Thanks for sharing this video, and I'm glad you found your stench champion.... eventhough I hope there is an even worse smelling chemical waiting for you in the future :)

[@Oystercaulk]

This reminded me about my one experience with DMT. DMT has an aweful taste and smell when heated. I know firsthand. Its like if you went into a bike shop and sniffed the new bike tires but combined that with tonsil stones and fish. One of the most unpleasent and nauseating odors ive encountered honestly.

[@TACTICALwaffle2]

That was my first thought when he was describing it, based on my experiences. I’m going to order a sample so I can see how close it is

[@Oystercaulk]

@TACTICALwaffle2 yeah you should I'd be interested to hear back if you do how close it is and what differences in scent profile it has. We are some drug sommeliers 😂

[@untitled6578]

​@@TACTICALwaffle2any updates? i'm curious if they smell similar

[@MonsieurMaskedMan]

awesome video dude, can't wait for more of these

[@untitled6578]

Thanks for this! I remember asking for isocyanides on your selenoacetone video. Sadly I live outside the US so can't get a sample :( Phosphines next?

[@tiggers4ts]

Cannot remember what the molecular name was, but it's classed as super rotten egg gas. It's about 40 times more pungent, extraclingy and persistent. In a protest against some tollbooths on a newly built freeway, it was isolated in the lab, put into water bombs and held three times, once while pouring concrete, a second time on opening day, and third time about a week later. It has such a binding affinity that only a few molecules as a very long lasting effect! You delete the concluding by three days as they could not work, totally ruined opening day ceremony and delayed opening by three days, and then shut down the tollbooths for three days after the initial free trial period, as the cashier's could not work if exposed, the smell and memory lingered for nearly 2 days and the carrier oil allowed it to stick around until it finally vaporised its reign of terror. And being based in an oil carrier it would soak in to porous materials, and if you tried to wash it, it actually activated the active ingredient making the area highly avoidable! As a cautionary note, he not only triggered asthma but also acted like an itching powder due to the sulphur. It's long lasting effect was also due to the major compound further decaying into rotten egg gas in the smallest amount would definitely leave an area avoidable for days!

[@rattmcpossum]

Man what a great patreon gift at the end

[@TheRealArtimusKnight]

0:54 he looks like the word science

[@dwaynezilla]

A lot of smells have a weird perception response in the sense that low levels end up smelling good. Sort of like how skatole (like scat as in poop) smells flowery in low concentrations; to the point where it's used in some perfumes. Apparently some mercaptans have this feature as well.

[@aaronmargolit161]

I did PhD work with isocyanides and interestingly my lab mates and I agree that although isocyanides smell bad it's still bearable and we all agreed amines and thiols smell infinitely worse and we often used bleach and other precautions to stop the smell.

[@Stuie444]

Got my shipment! *Holy mother of god and all that is holy* Why did I ever think that was a good idea?! ;-) Heated it up and - INSTANT regret. My friends and I - nay - they entire neighborhood will not forget that anytime soon. lmfao

[@slyscafe]

Love all the OU love - makes me feel right back home

[@AccidentalTradWife]

There is something so hilariously pure about three bros sharing rank scents.

[@skyethebi]

10:47 I love how it feels like he’s listing his qualifications for a job interview.

[@michaeldwyer1966]

I'm really enjoying your content... Keep it up

[@phukyerpheefees]

The fact that nitrobenzene, which smells like artificial cherry, can be used to create an awful smelling chemical makes me wonder if the n-butyl-isocyanide could be synthesized from n-butyl-acetate, which smells like artificial banana. That could be a new series of videos where pleasant smelling chemicals are altered into foul smelling ones.

[@LabCoatz_Science]

You certainly could! You'd just need to react it with sodium hydroxide to get n-butanol, react that with either HCl or HBr, and proceed with the Gabriel synthesis to get the n-butylamine.

[@petevenuti7355]

Oh one more thing to add to my chemistry shopping at the local supermarket besides artificial almond, vanilla and xylitol. Know any other useful sources?

[@AJBlueJay]

Even isocyanides can smells like cherry if there is an ester group in the ortho position. Source: "Versatile, Fragrant, convertible isonitriles"

[@MaryBruflat]

Found you through NileRed, and I'm sure glad to do so.

[@marcusrobinson1778]

Glad I finally got to see this happen

[@trith72]

"Thanks man..." Oh the power of friendship..

[@TheCaptainLulz]

The best source of readily available tin is at a sporting goods store. They are trying to (and have in some places) remove lead from fishing, so sinkers are made of either steel or tin now. Its pretty easy to tell the two apart.

[@ChimeraChemLab]

What about thiocyanides? Or maybe isocyanides with a thiol group in a different position?

[@Mireaze]

I think its possible that our modern environment is so full of strong smells that we're somewhat nose blind these days. I can imagine back when the worst thing people could imagine smelling was manure these would have caused vomiting and nausea and evacuation

[@dwaynezilla]

I think we're spoiled by plumbing. Imagine Rome with urine and feces welled up in the road crevices, an awful archipelago baking in the sun. Horse, human, who knows what kind of excrement. Rotting horse carcasses in the street. Leather tanneries doing their thing (so much literal rotting piss). And the Romans apparently bathed once every 9 days or so. I've smelled some proper ripe humans and it's nothing to understate. Sure the past humans wouldn't have anything as bad as these chemicals, but their baseline is so much higher.

[@noodlelynoodle.]

I think it varies a lot from person to person too and what they've been exposed to and just how sensitive their noses are to different compounds, like during cleaning the bones of roadkill I've found at the beginning I had to use a respirator to dump off the liquid that was basically liquified fermented flesh from the bacteria in the water breaking it down but now I can usually do it without a respirator cause I've been around that type of smell more my brain doesn't find it nearly as bad, it's still gross but it's not nearly making me puke like it did the first times I cleaned some and some of the smell got thru the respirator

[@CimboAkinci]

Nah everything stinked back in the time

[@hydrocharis1]

What? You think sewerless streets didn't stink? Never mind hygiene. Up until 19th century at least...

[@dimsum435]

Donkey's years ago I had the opportunity to smell 'skatol', (I think that's how it is spelled) . It's essence of urine, apparently used by perfumers. It was in a glass bottle inside another glass bottle and it still took five minutes of scrubbing to get the smell of piss off my fingers.

[@cooldude7301]

Skatole smells like poop not urine

[@veridico84]

Great video. Im so glad I subbed a while back

[@if860]

Maybe try sodium dithionite someday as a reducing agent to make aniline? I haven't tried making aniline with it, as in my country you can buy aniline as an OTC reagent (and you cannot buy HNO3 and H2SO4 which makes nitrobenzene harder to obtain), but it works very well with toluidines, xylidines, and luminol.

[@dwaynezilla]

I wonder how having the compounds in an enclosed space would change the smell intensity. You'd be able to get higher concentrations, I imagine.

[@ZA-mb5di]

1:18 Butyric Acid is important to me because it's part of GABA. The herb valerian increases the amount of it in your body similar to how benzos would

[@Maunz2032]

A chemistry teacher told us a story that he was on a convention and a professor showed them a purple liquid from which he puts one drop on an overhead projector and the whole room filled up with a bad stinking odor that makes every one run out. Any suggestions on this nasty stuff?

[@LabCoatz_Science]

It could've been a novel sulfur compound. I've talked with "That Chemist" about his experiences with bad smells, and apparently, there is a organosulfur-fluorine compound with a particularly unbearable odor. It's chlorine analog is bright pink iirc, so that might've been it, but I can't say 100%.

[@BarryMckinney-1981]

Orry about your sample. The video was awesome 👌

[@Esterified80]

Very intresting. It would be also intresting to make a closed space test and maybe also make cyclohexyl isocyanide, benzyl isocyanide and ethyl isocyanoacetate (from glycine probably) 2. Phosphines would be your next boss

[@geoffcalleeney8403]

60% of the Time, It Works Every Time!

[@MandrakeFernflower]

you can buy phenethylamine HCL in supplement shops - freebase it and make phenethyl isocyanide?

[@vaclavmatousek3007]

It does smell bad, I made a small amount of it. But still no match to butyl analogue.

[@rouvenr1414]

Great video! For synthesizing primary amines one might look at the Delepine reaction. Haloalkanes react with hexamine (aka urotropine) to form primary amines. Hexamine is quite easy to obtain from fuel tablets at least in Europe. Keep up the great work, I really enjoy all of your videos! :)

[@AB-80X]

I believe Hexamine is now regulated, after it was discovered that Syria uses it as an acid scavenger in its Sarin.

[@Aman-b5k]

Loved your content ❤, from 🇮🇳❤️

[@imstupid880]

My city recently had an odor blanket it that sounded oddly similar to the isocyanides, a foul mixture of burning rubber and burning plastic with an odd organic undertone. Called the fire department and they were able to get it sorted out, but never did find out what the cause was or where it came from.

[@Psychoholicshul]

I was pumping portable toilets and come across one that had a smell so sickening that it cause immediate uncontrollable heaving and vomiting. I've smelled some bad things in my life and have worked around human and animal feces before and I'm telling you, this smell was something unreal.

[@emersonharris142]

13:45 I just had this vision of 1 guy letting lose a fart and then calling over his 2 friends to smell it.

[@Carbene1994]

To me isocyanides really feel like if you rubbed garlic into dirty sweaty old peoples armpit lol

[@barthanes1]

I wonder how it compares to the Chennai dump. The Chennai dump is the worst odor I've encountered in nature.

[@AlldaylongRock]

«its like smelling pyridine, but much worse» well, nope. Pyridine and Lawesson Reagent were the two ones that almost made me puke

[@nfrandom007]

I look forward to your attempt at making the Tellurium analog of Thioacetone to complete the sink family

[@LabCoatz_Science]

You know I will! Not sure how that'll go though...I know I'll be able to make/test some tellurols, but a tellurone like telluroacetone might be too unstable to exist (especially in the presence of atmospheric oxygen). I'll certainly try though!

[@parkerbeck3580]

There really is a difference in strength versus smell. The worst thing I ever smelled was some toxic mold in my air ducts that was making me wretch. Its actual smell may not have been that bad, but the sheer strength of it was enough to make me evacuate my house while it had to be cleaned. Made me want to vomit.

[@AB-80X]

Very interesting. I'm very sensitive to sulphur smells, but not that sensitive to stingy, pungent or acrid "chemical" smells of solvents etc. My brain does somehow not equate that with something disgusting, that's just the smell of chemicals. Sulphur my brain equates with the smell of crap. I'm not good with butyric stuff either. So "chemical smells" are fine, but not a fan of things that reek of crap, vomit or the like. Some of my colleagues are super sensitive to the "chemical smells" because as one says, she equates strong solvent-like chemical smells such as NH4OH(aq) with toxicity, which she also admits, is completely irrational. I specialise in organophosphates in Green Chem, and I have made some extremely toxic compounds over the years, and many have had an amazingly pleasant summery smell of fruit and flowers.

[@Mosern1977]

This is great, but we need a reference that we can buy in the store: Swedish Surströmming. Please open that, and put it on the chart, so we know what you have here.

[@Mutantcy1992]

A little concerned that the opening shot has two people eye level with what looks like a boiling solution in a test tube and, despite the channel name, no PPE on one and gloves only on the other. Eye protection is worth it!

[@kittty2005]

I don't remember if you said, I'd recommend using a fume hood with nitrobenzene and benzene thay may not cause ill effects but are listed as two of the most potent carcinogens producing mainly leukemia ,a friend died from that and he had a habit of washing his hands in powder solvent . He owned a gun shoppe and he never thought this would happen, and was only apprised of the danger when product safety labels were stamped on the shipping box, 2 weeks later he had it. He was 50 had that gun shoppe for about 30 years , didn't take long

[@legitimatehuman1220]

"Like most home chemists with bleach and acetone I also have chloroform" I feel personally attacked.

[@PandaXStorm]

for a VERY long time people agreed to Skunks beeing the worst smell on earth. how bad is it in comparison?

[@LabCoatz_Science]

Skunks are about the same as the selenium compounds I made before, both in how they smell and in strength: stinky and very strong, but not unbearable. I've smelled skunks hundreds of times throughout my life though, so the smell doesn't really phase me too much. Isocyanides, on the other hand, are chokingly strong no matter how many times you've smelled them! It's like smelling salts (which smell because of ammonia), but way worse.

[@davidtappe5337]

Your biggest challenge was iron, steel wool. Bechamp reduction was cool.

[@Neeshtyak]

The most offensive odour I've ever dealt with was thiophosgene. Surprisingly, butadiene also has a strong and unpleasant odour, due to the two conjugated double bonds. According to this I recommend to try to synthesise: CN-CH=CH-C(=S)-Cl from NH2-CH=CH-C(S)-H with the help of 3phosgene. I think this would be the most disgusting and offensive odour imaginable. PS: 3F can be obtained by chlorination of dimethyl carbonate in the presence of iodine.

[@therealzilch]

Fascinating and well told. One small quibble: at 5:00, you comment on the seeming incongruity of such a stink being created from its nice cherry scented precursor with "but that's chemistry for you". Actually, it's evolution: "smell" is not an intrinsic property of chemicals, but rather our parochial response to them, which depends on how our precursors evolved. Good work. Cheers from a paleo freak in Vienna, Scott

[@technoman9000]

Great video keep it up

[@blahsomethingclever]

Putrescine is a simple diamine with an aliphatic carbon chain in the middle, it's the worst. Molecule is light, small and somewhat fat soluble

[@chrisjones-fp5vd]

Great video, so interesting