Need help with drugs

[Agemegos]

Originally Posted by vesper

anhydrous ammonium hydroxide

Funny. I thought "ammonium hydroxide" was a term for a solution of ammonia in water. You can have NH₄⁺ ion and OH⁻ ions in the same aqueous solution, but I don't think the alkali NH₄OH actually forms.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Agemegos

Funny. I thought "ammonium hydroxide" was a term for a solution of ammonia in water. You can have NH₄⁺ ion and OH⁻ ions in the same aqueous solution, but I don't think the alkali NH₄OH actually forms.

You certainly couldn't bottle it, it's not stable to decomposition to ammonia and water under anything like normal conditions, but I wouldn't be too surprised if you could detect it spectroscopically in something non-polar. I might try supercritical carbon dioxide.

FWIW the usual explodes on mixing with water example chemical is sulfuric acid, and of course if you take the pressure off liquid anhydrous ammonia it will vaporize into a nice fuel-air explosive mixture without needing any water at all.

[tantric]

The modern version of the Birch reduction of ephedrine uses ammonium nitrate and makes the anhydrous ammonia in situ. It's called 'push-pull' and can be done in a soda bottle.

Just out of curiosity, have any of you ever actually been in a drug lab? My experience with such shows a decided lack of drug crazed lunatics and random explosions, having rather a surplus of hyperintelligent anti-authoritarian types and a fully functioning chem lab. Viva the Hive.