Its not exactly an official job, a salaried employment position. But rather, I'd be paid on the quiet for the job done, plus another $20 for every view of the video. Guy has a large and extensive channel.
That and coming up with syntheses the channel owner who does the videos can then do and video himself. And I'd far sooner be paid under the table, so to speak, anyway. Nice and quiet and un-taxed and that wouldn't affect my benefits. Cash wired to one of those prepaid credit cards, bitcoin or something like that.
Only thing we need to work out now is what sort of sytheses he hasn't already done and videoed. My first idea was one I've done before, CrO2Cl2, or chromyl chloride, along with pyridinium chlorochromate, its one of the Etard reagents, and the Etard reaction is pretty neat in that it will oxidize an alcohol to an aldehyde whilst stopping at R-CHO without further oxididation to the carboxylic acid, R-COOH, quite astonishing considering that CrO2Cl2 is a VICIOUS oxidizer that spontaneously sets fire to many organics and is incompatible with most solvents, chloroform, CH2Cl2 or carbon tetrachloride are pretty much the only acceptable, non-exotic solvents the Etard reagent will tolerate. But say, oxidation of the OTC benzyl alcohol distilled from commonly available degreasers, floor cleaners etc. to benzaldehyde without overoxidation to benzoic acid would be fantastic. Especially considering people would love facile routes to benzaldehyde given its a common amphetamine precursor (Knoevanagel rxn with nitroethane, benzaldehyde and an amine base in glacial acetic acid results in a condensation that yields an intermediate beta-nitroprop-2-ene, reduction of this can give either 1-phenyl-propan-2-one that can be reductively aminated to give methamphetamine, or can be directly reduced with the likes of LiAlH4 to amphetamine, or to an aldol type product if that was desired by dissolving transition metal/acid type reductions in the presence of a lewis acid such as FeCl3. Apparently zinc metal dust and hydrochloric acid give good yields directly of 'phet from the intermediate beta-nitropropene. Works for ring-substituted phenethylamines too, as well as ring-substituted psychedelic amphetamines if, for the phenethylamines, nitroethane be substituted with nitromethane, nitromethane condensation with a benzaldehyde gives a substituted beta-nitrostyrene (nitro-vinylbenzene) and reduction of these using LAH, certain dissolving metal/acid reductions or catalytic hydrogenation to reduce the double bond of the nitrostyrene and then reduction of the nitro group to the amine gives the desired product.
The intermediate nitroalkenes are easily worked up too, being insoluble in ice-cold H2O. So all thats needed is to allow the reaction mixture to cool to room temperature, pack ice around the rxn vessel then salt it, adding some methylated spirits or antifreeze and it'll cool right down, then throw it onto cracked ice chunks, results in an instant solidification of the nitroalkenes as pale yellow crystals with hints usually of a pumpkin-orange byproduct, that is easily removed by H2O washing with ice-cold water followed by recrystallizing the nitrostyrenes/nitropropenes from dry isopropanol, or even MeOH/EtOH, which, followed by another H2O wash does a nearr perfect job of removing the (usually fairly modest in quantity compared with the nitroalkenes, depennding on the substituted benzaldehyde used as well as the base.Some substrates work better with some bases than others. Triethylenetetramine, recystallized from certain two-part epoxy kits (as the hardener compound portion) and used as the freebase seems to work excellently with at least substituted aldehydes of the 2,5-dimethoxy-4-substituted pattern where the 4' phenyl carbon bears an electron-donating substituent such as an alkyl or alkyl ether. Certainly, TETA works a treat for 2,5-dimethoxy-4-lower alkyl benzaldehydes, such as 4-methyl. Only a tiny orange halo of pumpkin orange byproduct. Rextyl'n from boiling isopropanol eliminates that completely.
The Etard reagent, CrO2Cl2 is made by distilling a mixture of sodium dichromate or potassium dichromate (1 mol), common table salt (NaCl, 4 mol per mole of dichromate) then addition of 6 moles of concentrated sulfuric acid (H2SO4, 6 mol per mol dichromate) after first thoroughly mixing the dichromate and the salt, slow addition of the conc. H2SO4 (98% acid works) and then distillation and collection of the distillate that starts to come over at 117 'C. Addition of the sulfuric should be slow, and the reagents anhydrous, or at least well-dried, baking the shite out of the table salt in the oven first prior to use in the synth, isn't a bad idea. And storage of the dichromate in a dessicator over anhydrous CaCl2 isn't either. The collection flask must be equipped with an efficient condensor with a drying tube packed with a dessicant on top, in order to exclude air and moisture. Preferably running with a salted ice-methylated spirits-water mixture through the condensor, since this powerful electrophillic oxidizer is moisture sensitive and it fumes in air, its a volatile liquid, looks rather like bromine, dark orange-ruddy reddish brown, which fumes in air and reacts VIOLENTLY with water. And on many substrates if applied neatly, such as for instance, to sulfur, it will start a fire, so efficient protection of the collection flask is vital. As is making sure not to allow either water vapor to enter the collection flask, or the CrO2Cl2 vapours to escape into the atmosphere, since hexavalent chromium, Cr(VI) is toxic and probably carcinogenic. This fuming, volatile, vicious wee bugger of an oxidizing agent is nasty stuff, but it IS damn useful, because selective oxidation of an alcohol to an aldehyde is rather a difficult synthetic transformation to pull off. A similar although not identical complex with pyridine, pyridinium chlorochromate or PCC is quite a bit safer as an Etard reagent. Never made PCC, but apparently it can be made by adding a solution of pyridinium chloride in ice-cold concentrated hydrochloric acid to solid chhromium trioxide with stirring. AFAIK its a solid, and doesn't give off the highly corrosive and at best, pretty damn poisonous, toxic fumes that CrO2Cl2 does.
I'm thinking I need to buy myself some pyridine, since its a reagent currently I lack. Its nasty shit, it stinks something foul and is somewhat toxic. Widely voted on one hobby chemist forum as one of the absolute top few or very worst of all the filthy stenches of any chemical. Smells like rotting fish and dead, decaying flesh. Only worse. You might know the smell actually since pyridine is often added in traces to denatured alcohol to add warning properties and render it utterly undrinkable. Apparently a single drop in a liter or so of alcohol makes it a truly gutwrenching stinker. But PCC is safer, than chromyl chloride and the potential youtube business fella has done a large-scale synthesis and distillation of chromyl chloride already. Not sure if he's done anything like PCC or N-alkylpyridinium chlorochromates such as butylpyridinium chlorochromate. And I have everything I need at least, for the preparation of chromyl chloride. Just need to get round to distilling some chloroform in which to use the reagent without the solvent bursting into flames and drying it, stabilizing the chloroform with a little alcohol and NaHCO3 to prevent it decomposing slowly in storage, because otherwise over time it can produce phosgene gas, which is absolutely terrifyingly deadly toxic. And there is no antidote. One breath and your dead man walking if there is enough present. Or smaller amounts over time can cumulatively fatally poison the unfortunate victim. Accidentally formed once, it almost got me. Luckily for me I recognized the odour of it, and instantly masked up and began decontamination procedures, going outside to breathe, even with the mask on, Because with phosgene in a lethal exposure, which can occur in minutes with even small quantities, you just do not get a second chance. And its known to penetrate at least some masks. Was used in the days of the world wars as a replacement for chlorine gas, since it would go straight through masks of the time intended for protection against Cl2 (I actually find chlorine, although smelling pretty nasty, to be fairly tame, and easily usable in syntheses without its escaping to the environment, its quite reactive but by no means all too difficult to handle.as a gas. Although I've never had to use it in a cryogenic liquid state, which for a few chemistry procedures is done rather than using gaseous chlorine. Its handy as a gas because it replaces either iodine in iodides or bromine from ionic bromide salts (such as sodium, or potassium bromides) to liberate free elemental iodine or bromine. And both I2 and Br2 are volatile and a shitbag to store. I2 has this nasty tendency to pass through the walls of containers slowly and vaporize away. And Br2 is worse, and needs storage in glass amps that are sealed totally from the environment, Fumes like a fucking bastard to give hydrogen bromide gas/vapours of hydrobromic acid on contact with the airborne water vapor. And Cl2 is easily generated whenever it is desired by oxidizing hydrochloric acid either with manganese dioxide (obtainable from batteries), faster than MnO2 oxidation is oxidizing concentrated hydrochloric using potassium permanganate, or theres always the option that uses the least quantities of least valuable reagents, more or less none in fact. Electrolytic production of Cl2 from table salt. Rate controllable simply by regulation of the current and voltage from the power supply. And if needs be, if producing Cl2 at a low rate, flushing the supply lines with argon to push the chlorine through a solution of the easily stored, tame as can be potassium or sodium iodide/bromides thus allowing for production of elemental iodine or bromine upon desire just before it is to be made use of, this negating the otherwise pain in the arse of storing either. Just keep the iodide or bromide, and pass Cl2 through same, under water, ideally done as a solution of the bromide or iodide salt, upon which the desired halogen falls out to the bottom as either liquid bromine, or solid I2. In the case of bromine, it then needs cooling as much as possible and drying over anhydrous CaBr2, the cooling being to reduce fuming, after tapping off the bromine layer from the water in the recieving flask, or for iodine, drying by squeezing in bog roll then sublimation and resublimation to dry and purify it. The Br2 can also be distilled if needed, carefully mind you, as Br2 being a liquid, unlike Cl2 or solid iodine will cause severe burns upon contact with skin. I know someone who was bitten by bromine and she ended up in hospital. Whereas momentary skin contact with chlorine gas is nothing worse than irritant at worse, I've never even noticed any problems from its touching unbroken skin, and iodine just needs handling like a rather hot bit of food in the hand, moving it from place to place, this way it can, although the less the better, be handled without burning, although it does instantaneously cause a brownish black discoloration of the skin, or if touching clothing made from natural fiber, at least cotton, it WILL burn holes in it and they will forevermore be dark violet black. Iodine does not play well with clothing. Got a labcoat (well it is one now) that got iodinated years ago and its never shown the slightest degree of losing the discoloration.
