100ml of high-purity thionyl chloride (SOCl2)
250g of elemental iodine (I2)
5g of 3-bromo,-4-(1,1-difluoromethoxy)-5-methoxybenzaldehyde.
I also want some (when I can find it, although I think I shall have to wait until my favoured chemical supplier via private lines of communication returns from vacation because I cannot find it where I just have been shopping.
I've seen something quite interesting and unusual also on ebay. A small sample of Hittorf's phosphorus (this is essentially a crystalline allotrope, first discovered in 1865 by a scientist named mr. Hittorf, by means of boiling white phosphorus dissolved in molten lead for almost a day, then dissolving away the lead with somewhat strong HNO3 (nitric acid), which revealed that a crystalline allotrope of phosphorus, of a violet color had been left behind, the structure of the molecule being formed of pyramidal chains of IIRC 6 atoms, with upraised tall phosphorus cages every other repeat unit.
Although there are several similar violet allotropes, this particular one is interesting because it is metallic, or more probably, a metalloid, otherwise known as a semimetal, like such elements as silicon, germanium, arsenic, selenium and tellurium and some of the allotropes of boron also.
Going to check my bank account now actually so I can see if I have enough for both some red phosphorus, and some violet phosphorus. Although I'm not too sure about the violet P, I'd like it quite a lot actually, but the sample is tiny, a mere 0.1g. And I could do much better than that much cheaper than this, if I wait for my primary chem supplier to return, and purchase some white phosphorus, and some concentrated nitric acid, and do the whole dissolving and thence boiling in lead, followed by dissolving the metal in some of the HNO3. That way I could have myself a PROPER sample, not merely 100mg, which I think for the price is extortion. That way, once I get a periodic table case that can be mounted upon the wall of my lab as display piece, that is in my opinion one I've put in the effort to make a suitably worthy and beautiful work of art, I can then have enough white, the different red allotrope polymorphs, rhombohedral-metallic [Hittorf's] and monoclinic violet phosphorus, fibrous violet phosphorus, scarlet phosphorus, Schenck's phosphorus and IF I can manage the last, most difficult ones, two metallic, crystalline allotropes of black phosphorus and the easiest one of the P nanostructures to prepare, although difficult still, phosphorene, the ultra-thin, 2-D monomolecular layered phosphorus atom analog of graphene, the carbon equivalent.
The plan is to build the display case myself, in the shape of the periodic table, inlay labels, or my preference, etch them into the very glass itself covering the sections with name of element, atomic weight, and where relevant, allotropic form. and where possible, with whatever amount of effort, I want to go right back to basics for the samples, that meaning, to, where not occuring as a native element in the free state, to win them out of their ores and minerals myself.
Such as say, I'd not buy sodium metal, but rather, I'd rig up another electrolytic cell and pass a current through electrodes immersed in molten sodium salts to effect separation of sodium in the elemental state, as the metal itself.
Or build an arc-furnace for reducing phosphates to white phosphorus, mixed phosphate/carbon and silica sand at extremely high temperatures IIRC will work. And where some exist, doing further work on my elements to prepare the different known allotropes so as to include samples of each, such as the different arsenic allotropes, metallic and red, amorphous selenium, that sort of thing.
But the important thing is doing the work personally by my own hand, just buying them is kinda cheating, although there are a handful of exceptions. I don't mind buying source compounds, to do the isolations FROM, but even then where possible I'll be going ore-hunting and mineral prospecting myself.
And not just because buying them is cheating, but BORING too. If I have to work my arse off for each and every single item up to uranium then that means I will have a long, long long time worth of project work to enjoy, which means by definition, lots of doing what I love.
