Distilling A Superacid In My Garage: Chlorosulfonic Acid Synthesis and Reactions

[@Sparky95]

That 2nd angle of the chlorosulfonic acid and permanganate is absolutely mesmerizing! Like a rolling fog of death.

[@Lucius_Chiaraviglio]

Probably made a fair amount of impure chlorine gas.

[@LabCoatz_Science]

@@Lucius_Chiaraviglio It didn't really smell like it. I didn't smell the fumes directly, since breathing manganese smoke isn't smart, but there was no residual smell of chlorine after the reaction, which (from my experience) would have been easily detected if it were present.

[@vx_nerve_agent]

next thing to distill is fluoroantimonic acid

[@experimental_chemistry]

In what kind of apparatus?

[@aloedg3191]

@@experimental_chemistry me

[@experimental_chemistry]

@@aloedg3191??? 🤔

[@Dragonbyte]

@@aloedg3191🤨

[@pcorf]

HF and SBF5. Good luck with that!

[@LocozillaYT]

Making Superacid.....I heard the leading city in this research is East Palestine, Ohio. I heard they even have the ability to summon acid clouds to dispatch acid rain too! Pretty darn advanced.

[@midwestchem368]

32k subs? Bro that's so far less than you should have. You're doing things unseen outside of a "professional" setting like the thio and selenoacetone as well as the butanediselenol. Keep up the work man You're absolutely awesome in my book! Always keeping us on the edge of our seats. 😜

[@LabCoatz_Science]

I'm glad to be able to! I love pushing the boundaries of home chemistry, and sharing content that nobody else has (or has dared to). Hopefully I'll have even better content coming out by the summer, including syntheses for anhydrous hydrazine, t-butyllithium, ammonia borane, and alkyl perchlorates...and tellurols/telluroketones of course!

[@SodiumInteresting]

@@LabCoatz_Science ammonia borane, hypergols?

[@LabCoatz_Science]

@@SodiumInteresting If all goes well! I just distilled 100mL of fuming nitric acid before the college semester started, and that seems to create a very spicy mix with the borane! I might also try permanganate, manganese heptoxide, and pure perchloric acid...we'll see!

[@billynomates920]

i know it isn't politically driven like firearms but it's still giving people a fair idea how to go about making some very dangerous chemicals. if it gets too popular yt will drop the ban hammer.

[@МатвейБакальский-ъ7ф]

@@billynomates920 obtain these substances legally. the author left a warning about the danger, what else do you need? because of a bunch of idiots who will get hurt because of their stupidity to stop doing science?

[@foobarFR]

4:25 those fumes literaly scream "acute lung injury"

[@Bob-dp9rs]

Hey could you do a vid on the recent train derailing in Ohio and the chemicals that were burned, releasing toxic fumes? id like to know more about it, how the toxic fumes can affect the environment. What chemicals were burned, creating what toxic products, etc.

[@actually5004]

It happened in Batavia, NY and again at Illiopolis, IL and good info can be found through those. The CSB has videos on the latter that are pretty good and the user RedVectorOnline has a breakdown of the MSDS handling guidelines that's pretty good titled "Vinyl Chloride: Safe Handling & Storage".

[@jamesreid6526]

YES PLEASE!!!! Ive been waiting for Niel Red as well.

[@grubalaboocreosote4774]

Just remember, dozens of tractor trailers hauling worse chemicals than the train, crash and burn every year in the United States. Yet you don’t hear about that. How about how Lake Erie is a chemical ridden wasteland because of various accidents? Take caution if you live nearby, down river, or down wind. Check where your drinking water is sourced from, and if you get purified water, try to add a mineral packet to each gallon so that it doesn’t make you feel off from the over-pure nature of it.

[@karstenkunneman5219]

@@grubalaboocreosote4774 that's completely untrue. Never in the history of the united states has that much vinyl chloride been burned and released that much hydrochloric acid into the atmosphere

[@Slop_Dogg]

@@karstenkunneman5219 people will just say whatever in an attempt to prove that they’re too smart to care about something lol

[@ChemicalEuphoria]

4:09 i love how respirators are really close to vader's life support system lol 😂

[@BladeScraper]

"Maybe introducing a bit of fire will make things interesting?" *explosion* "Yep, that definitely made things more interesting" Cracked me up dude, awesome video

[@Jawst]

Awesome video. Thank you for putting in the effort for the safety warnings at the beginning! There are some pretty horrific videos on KZbin with absolutely no safety and no safety warnings!

[@trashcompactorYT]

Man your channel is awesome. Really glad NileRed mentioned you so I could look you up!

[@no-expert]

Nice video and quite a few cool reactions - the heavy crawling fog was my favorite. I bet cleaning up takes forever, appreciate the effort you put in the video

[@notmyname327]

Nice video! I love smokey reactions, especially when there are nice colors. I also love chemical force, another great channel.

[@Find-the-Devil]

Nice video. Remind me of some explosions I experienced in the lab back in the old days. Keep it up.

[@jerrysanchez5453]

It's actually terrifying that that's all it takes to make a super acid lol

[@Gamer-nc8qp]

fill up water guns with it lol (ik it would fuck up the plastic and melt it )

[@justinbanks2380]

Introducing a little bit of fire ALWAYS makes things a little more interesting 😉😁

[@TOXXIE]

Great video! I’ve thought about this but I never thought any product would actually be isolatable! Awesome to see it done! 0:39 If you’re actually planning to be using HF to make the fluoro analogue in the future, dropping excess sulfuric acid onto a mixture of P2O5 and CaF MIGHT work, generating HF and SO3 in situ. Then by purging the system with argon into a base trap will let you distill the fluorosulfuric acid using normal glass, plus the system won’t be full of HF. just a warning tho I personally wouldn’t work with HF at home, like ever. As I said earlier, you’ve got such great content here. So many interesting reactions. Keep it up!!!!

[@konkelen]

4:26 Love that you can hear you breathing through a respirator

[@sheev9852]

I can't believe I've only just found your channel, Very underrated man

[@kubilayalbayrak8419]

hey man just letting you know that your videos are awesome and what you can do is incredible! it is so clear that you have a passion for chemistry and you make people like me who is not really educated on subject understand clearly! keep up the good work

[@AndToTheRepublic4WhichItStands]

At 6:22 just before the flash you can see what looks like a tiny bolt of lightening!

[@X-Gen-001]

That was really interesting, great video. I'll never forget the first time I saw Alien and that very alarming mustardy colored blood spurting out onto the floor when Ash cut the facehugger. "That's gonna eat through the hull.. That crap's gonna eat through the goddamn hull, c'mon!" How true it is that sci-fi can inspire people to develop a passion for real science. It certainly influenced mine. Thanks for the shout out man.✋😅

[@ragingre4per242]

ya see this is why i love youtube gives me a cool channel with a cool video just randomly on my feed whenever i wanna enjoy a video with dinner

[@Tyranzor64]

This screams of "Not only will this kill you, it will be EXTREMELY PAINFUL THE ENTIRE TIME"

[@cianmoriarty7345]

0:33 at first I thought you said "fluorodemonic acid". Then I realised what you said and was like "eh, close enough" 🤣

[@histiest1628]

You gotta drop a bit of wax into it, like the party trick they did the very first time it was synthesized!

[@stopthephilosophicalzombie9017]

That pink and green vapor at 3:47 is crazy looking

[@LukasSMF]

2:13 I literally lost points on my lab report bc I wrote h2so4 (l) instead of (aq) since it was a 97% solution 😫

[@Cavemankind_]

Are you working without a fume hood? It’s appealing to see fumes roll over in the video, but it also shows there’s no vacuum pulling the fumes away…

[@LabCoatz_Science]

Nope, no fume hood, I film everything in my garage. I'm hoping to build a fume hood soon though!

[@Cavemankind_]

@@LabCoatz_Science Keep up the entertaining & educating work! And be careful, we want to see future videos!

[@Ghuirm]

it's kinda of surprising how easy it is to make this super acid, only need 2 different ingrediants and distill it

[@LabCoatz_Science]

If you use sulfur trioxide and hydrogen chloride instead, you don't even need to distill it: it just forms the chlorosulfonic acid directly! Of course, I didn't use that route because I don't have SO3 yet. Still, like you said, it is surprisingly easy to make! And soon, I'll be making a super BASE to go along with it: t-butyllithium!

[@Roel922]

the braun geen smoke did really look like the clouds of Jupiter. Super awesome!

[@rodrigomack13]

"And, perhaps more importantly, can we do that without dying?"

[@poulosegeorge5457]

You are the best chemistry ⚗️ channel on KZbin man I love you 😍

[@Chemanic1]

What hot plate do you have? I’m getting new lab equipment and don’t know what hot plate to get. Thanks

[@LabCoatz_Science]

I originally had an old SH-2 model from Amazon, but that broke after roughly a year (the magnets in the stirrer were getting demagnetized by the heat of the hotplate, and some water got inside it and shorted it out). Now, I have this model, which is similar, but it is built much better (the body is metal, not cheap plastic) and the magnets are much beefier and in a better arrangement, so they won't really loss strength: www.amazon.com/Plate-Magnetic-Stirrer-Mixer-Control/dp/B07MTCM6Z9/ref=sr_1_5?crid=BVTHJ1VTQFBD&keywords=hot+plate+magnetic+stir&qid=1676759936&sprefix=hotplate+%2Caps%2C111&sr=8-5

[@Chemanic1]

@@LabCoatz_Science thanks I appreciate it🙂

[@Tekner436]

Most channels: Don't try this at home. LabCoatz: Be sure to work outside or in a well-ventilated area.

[@Purple431]

The colorful cloud looks sooooooo vivid it almost looks fake. Awsome!

[@kieranodea771]

For sure gonna try this reaction, Backyardscience2000 is the man by the way.

[@ridhvikg]

Here after the NileRed Shoutout. Great videos!

[@mihirsanghvi9876]

5:38 it's the break down of acetone in highly acidic medium into mestylene and other coloured impurities if you let it stand it long enough it will just turn into and black tar dissolved in mestylene and leftover unreacted acetone. This reaction need to the heated but the initial reaction between them is enough to heat it up for further reaction to take place

[@LabCoatz_Science]

You watched Chemiolis today too?

[@mihirsanghvi9876]

Yep

[@Mosern1977]

Very glad there are a camera + entire internet + monitor between me and those substances.

[@hakatackagaming4634]

when it comes to chemical warnings, rtaher then say be sure to wokr outside or a wlel ventilated area maybe say, do not try this XD

[@joigalha]

Love how glass is always like YEAH FUCK IT IM HOLDING ALIEN SALIVA AND FEELING GREAT

[@Mr.Unacceptable]

You can find Hydrogen fluoride at janitorial supply or carpet cleaning shops. It's used as a rust remover. You can get it in absurd concentrations. You can find a lot of other rare chemicals at a dry cleaner supply warehouse.

[@ravenron1]

Everything is better with fire. Great vid.

[@Piocoto123]

Amazing video as always!! I love hd videos of exotic chemicals and reactions.. nice shoutout to chemicalforce! I think hes got the most exotic compounds on youtube

[@Xiellion]

4:49 the forbidden espresso

[@wojciechostrowicz]

At 3:00 I looked at my cat just to make sure that he's away from the carpet 😂

[@experimental_chemistry]

Very nice and powerful realtime reactions! Who really does need minutes of slomo?... 😉 I wish I would live in your country where so many things are allowed...

[@jefflyon2020]

That flash reminded me of the insanely intense white flash of a thermonuclear detonation you see in all the de-classified nuclear test films available for viewing on the internet these days.Just on a much smaller and safer scale of course. Nothing but pure energy, white light and heat! Cool video and rather brave of you to do this for us as a experiment involving deadly but fascinatiog chemistry.

[@zalzalahbuttsaab]

I'm a perfumer so I was surprised to see you measuring the two reagents using different SI measurements, i.e., ml and g.

[@SodiumInteresting]

You beat me to it! I still have a large ampoule of antimony pentachloride for doing fluoroantimonic acid (one day) like you I lack HF or ways of handling even that stuff safely

[@Sniff_Jenkem]

If he wasn't on a list already, he is now. lmao. Once again, great video! Can't wait for the Fluoroantimonic Acid video. Stay safe!

[@TeamUnpro]

When you said it smelled like Parm. Cheese, I thought to myself "Welp, RIP respitory system"

[@gahnanschaff1361]

It's also important to note that most cmpds with chloride on them are able to go straight through standard nitrile gloves so you need to be extremely careful handling those cmpds or invest in high quality gloves

[@minnyh]

Any stuff with Fluorine would be interesting. As a young man I worked in a hospital laundry and they happened to have a bottle of what I think was Hydrofluoric acid. It had a rather legendary status and had been used, as I understand it, to remove blood stains. Never actually saw it used but I was regaled with stories of accidental spillage onto fingers and the damage done.

[@marshmallowblaster]

It's amazing how much power can be contained within such a tiny glass vial!

[@ernestopreciado4895]

A chemist wanted to see his super acid reacting with magnesium in a more interesting way. This is how he lost his eyesight.

[@lttsr]

The magnesium reaction made me think there was going to be a cut to a SpongeBob nuclear explosion just from how bright it was. Wow

[@Richard_allrich]

Because you are asking why your acetone has gone red here is my thoughts on it: A superacid is putting a positive charge on the oxygen of the ketone which primarily resonates with the C1-Atom which then also is with a positive charge. This highly catalysizes a polymerization of the acetononium (Kations) creating serveral substances and polymeres. Due to the high acetidity you can expect several hydroxy eliminations leading to C=C Doublebounds which are also known for polymerasations. All the sp2-C & O atoms gives you a wild variety of colorful organic substances which mixes here in a orange red in highly acid conditions with considerable amounts of oxygen & water. All in all pretty nasty reactions & high risks for thermal runaways. But yeah recently I helped out plumbing a clocked bathroom with solid NaOH and hot boiling water - was also crazy bubbling but effective. After that neutralized it all with aqueous cictridacid and the pipes were free ;) Take care!

[@danielbickford3458]

Kind of curious, what is the scientific definition of a super acid. From what I remember from my early chemistry courses there are the seven strong acids and most everything else is considered a weak one,

[@LabCoatz_Science]

A superacid is any acid stronger than pure sulfuric acid. Anhydrous perchloric acid is another example of a superacid, and I'm actually hoping to isolate some soon, along with its anhydride, dichlorine heptoxide!

[@danielbickford3458]

@@LabCoatz_Science fun, that doesn't sound safe at all, but still sounds fun.

[@lightdark00]

Filing this in my need to do folder!

[@madmark8363]

Our lab had to analyse sample of this thing for purity and we had trouble finding good solvent. When we considered methanol the R&D guy who brought the sample freaked out and told us to use almost anything else, just not the methanol. Apparently this thing in combination with methanol creates strong methylating agent wich is super toxic.

[@Leo_Aqua]

I love the darth vader breath at 4:10

[@SimonBlokky]

Could it be that the reaction between the chlorosulfonic acid and acetone forms mesityloxide and isophorone via an acid catalyzed aldol reaction? Both compounds have a solvent like smell and may sometimes smell like peppermint. Anyway, great video!

[@LabCoatz_Science]

Thanks! And yes, that is my current theory!

[@elnombre91]

Something made a loud noise behind me while I was in the process of weighing out a kilo of chlorosulfonic acid, resulting in me throwing it over my lab coat. That lab coat got absolutely destroyed in very little time. Thankfully none of it got on my skin or clothes, the closest call I've had in 8 years working as as a chemist.

[@ozomozik]

It baffles me how this guy only has 88k subs

[@chir0pter]

I definitely think this video could have been improved by doing some more research/thinking about what is in the various fumes and products, like the strange orange oil- did you polymerize the acetone?

[@LabCoatz_Science]

If you're referring to the permanganate fumes, they are most likely a mix of manganese dioxide, permanganic acid, and small amounts of permanganyl chloride. And with the acetone, I recently learned that the acidic conditions cause it to undergo an aldol condensation reaction, with one of the products being mesityl oxide: a yellowish, insoluble liquid with a sweet smell. This can further combine with other molecules (aka more condensation reactions) to form a deeper red color.

[@aradhyajain7492]

That reaction with the magnesium nearly blinded me through the screen man! Awesome video!! Although a small bit of criticism if you would like to listen - A small warning at like 5:51 during the magnesium chapter would be nice... Give us some time to prepare for it...

[@gayforbrae5693]

Im kinda surprised no one tries making a like super Piranha solution Try mixing one of these super acids with peroxide and see if that makes it any worse

[@brendenirving7463]

Nice intro man😎

[@knoxianpanda]

New Science KZbinr just dropped in my Algorithm, thanks YT.

[@justinbanks2380]

Crazy cool and informative!

[@russellhamner4898]

I drank like a gallon of this stuff one time just to win a lying contest. Look, truth time. There was no lying contest and I only drank like a pint of this stuff, but now that I think back, it may have been Guinness.

[@kennethjohnson4280]

@LabCoats I'm an EHS professional, and I am slightly concerned that some of the chemicals you are creating may displace oxygen or damage your respirator filter. You may want to consider switching to an air-supplied respirator but that comes with its own cost and must be assembled correctly.

[@MichaelLapore-lk9jz]

NICE !👍question, is the phosphorus pentahydrate as reactive as the white phosphorus stored in h2o?

[@morningstarsci]

Those fumes are scary looking 😮

[@clovenbeast5183]

That's hilarious backyard science is my guy lol. I highly recommend him

[@squeaky1963]

you know you're making a giga acid when you're using other acids as "ingredients"

[@brocklaughrey3212]

Should try it on a piece of ham.. kinda curious of the possible damage it could do to a hand off spilled

[@LumirayYT]

Very nicely done! Nothing better than something that might eat through your hand :D

[@ravenger2445]

Give this guy 3 months and he'll be at 100k subs 💀💀

[@stephanieparker1250]

“All components of this synthesis are toxic and highly corrosive.” Ohhh yeeaa this is gonna be good! ‘Gets my popcorn’

[@MaxfieldMED]

Oh my gosh dude that was nice and dangerous! The permanganate reaction was awesome. At least this stuff doesn’t smell crazy bad from 45 miles away right?

[@en2oh]

I don't seem to see any phosphorus pentachloride on eBay or the private site. Is he still active? (nice video!)

[@LabCoatz_Science]

He should be. You might also try Onyxmet, they sell a lot of great inorganic chemicals (I just bought antimony trichloride for my next superacid project)!

[@jitendramisra722]

Can u tell me completely B2O3 dissolved in any acid rather than methanol.

[@OnEst_Opinion]

After seeing and reading the the thumbnail I read the first three words of the title very swiftly and here’s what I saw after seeing “superacid”…”dissolving a supercar”..lol and figured a Lamborghini hot wheels car was going to be dipped in the acid

[@theoverlord3839]

Next you should make vodka from various vanilla flavored foods

[@LabCoatz_Science]

Kind of an odd request, but then again, it wouldn't be my first time distilling alcohol...

[@chemistryofquestionablequa6252]

I was just going to ask if you gotten phosphorus pentachloride from Backyardscience2000, lol. Torrey is a good guy, he sponsors nearly all of chemistry KZbin

[@BackYardScience2000]

😃😉

[@jitendramisra722]

Can B2O3 dissolve in chlorosulphonic acid

[@janglobus9384]

Now without breathinmask. Remember, if your lungs feel on fire, you are❤

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

Taking dangerous stuff, and then using it to make _incredibly_ dangerous stuff... ALWAYS a good time! lol If you are able to make more, at some point, it might be interesting to setup a demonstration between it and various other chemicals (both corrosive *and* caustic), to show their hazards. See what sort of things they can destroy/ruin, such as: various types of clothing fabric _(nat/synthetic),_ organic and man made surfaces _(wood, rocks, plastics),_ and even some strips of cheap steak and pig skin for a human danger analog. Not necessarily looking for instant reactivity, but what occurs over a minute or longer, like if spilled/splashed and gone unnoticed!

[@LabCoatz_Science]

Maybe I'll try that when I do a video on making a superbase! T-butyllithium is definitely on the list!

[@DUKE_of_RAMBLE]

@@LabCoatz_Science *"Yo, CJ! Increase the output volume and drop me some superbase! 🤘"* *_CJ_* as in, _Chemical Jockey;_ or _Coatz Jockey,_ if you'd prefer... lol (mad dad-jokes in the hiz-zous __ ) _[ 🤔 I guess it would have to be classified as Basic Techno, since clearly it wouldn't fit under the genre of Acid Techno... Ok, ok, that's it, I promise!]_

[@justinbanks2380]

The drop and 'life is pain' 🤣

[@votive7478]

This guy is like Nilered but he posts every few weeks lol

[@mrexists5400]

Are their super bases? you can guess how well that worked in a google search, couldn't find anything on it

[@LabCoatz_Science]

Yes, there are! I'm actually making one soon: t-butyllithium!

[@mrexists5400]

@@LabCoatz_Science wooo! I finally get to learn about them!

[@brachypelmasmith]

what is the formla for the magnesium reaction (with explosion)?

[@LabCoatz_Science]

Hard to say, but most likely the magnesium rapidly reduced the chlorosulfonic acid to magnesium chloride, sulfate/sulfite, sulfide, and oxide/hydroxide, with some release of hydrogen not out of the question.

[@feblehober123]

5:43 I wonder if that's chloroacetone, formed from the enol

[@LabCoatz_Science]

I thought that might be the case, but the oil wasn't irritating like chloroacetone, so I didn't discuss that as a possibility in the video. Another viewer pointed out that the acid most likely forced the acetone to undergo an aldol condensation, forming mesityl oxide: a yellow, insoluble liquid with a sweet smell. This could undergo further condensation reactions to yield more polymerized products that would likely contribute to the red color.

[@filipealarza9079]

How would you make something like sodium chlorosulfonate? Is that the product of the NaOH reaction as with usual acids?

[@LabCoatz_Science]

Reacting the acid with sodium hydroxide, carbonate, etc. should produce the chlorosulfonate salt, but I'm not entirely sure if that would work...it might just form a mixture of sodium chloride and sodium sulfate/bisulfate/sulfite.

[@SodiumInteresting]

Can you prepare this by bubbling HCl into oleum? A purer piranha solution can be made if you add very conc h2o2 to this...

[@LabCoatz_Science]

Yes, the sulfur trioxide/HCl route is another common pathway, but I didn't have SO3 (or oleum) at the time. I do plan to make a video on oleum sometime, and I definitely would like to make a high-power piranha solution with it!

[@experimental_chemistry]

@@LabCoatz_Science I guess it will just smoke away...

[@epluribusunum6622]

I've never done any chemistry... Would this be a good first foray?

[@LabCoatz_Science]

Oh yeah, definitely.

[@epluribusunum6622]

@@LabCoatz_Science next do a video on the dangers of dihydrogen monoxide and the human body

[@LabCoatz_Science]

@@epluribusunum6622 Ah yes, dihydrogen monoxide. It's risk cannot be understated, even I get nervous working around it. Did you know 100% of humans who die are exposed to dihydrogen monoxide in some form?

[@epluribusunum6622]

@@LabCoatz_Science even worse is it's persistence on all 7 continents

[@00bean00]

Doesn't ammonia (reagent grade anyway) have a pH of 12? (And from my reading about a pH 11 base, it didn't take a very strong concentration to reach it)

[@LabCoatz_Science]

It might, although it is still counted as a weak base by most sources.

[@ShadySquats]

Why did you heat to 152 instead of 105 for the distillation? Aren't you just boiling both liquids in the mixture at that point?

[@LabCoatz_Science]

To get to 152C, you naturally have to pass 105C. The temperature won't rise to 152C until all of the phosphoryl chloride boils off first, so I just set the hotplate to max and didn't keep anything that came over below 150C (although, in hindsight, I should've tried refining the POCl3 instead of just neutralizing it, since it can be pretty useful).

[@ShadySquats]

@@LabCoatz_Science ah makes sense, thanks