I have a dedicated lab room. That isn't, however, luxuriously spacious.
And for what I'm upto doing...I'm doing a work in progress video series (had to film in short bites due to memory card constraints), doing some inorganic chem, the synthesis of an interhalogen compound, interhalogens being di- or polyatomic molecules containing only atoms of the halogen series, namely, fluorine, chlorine, bromine, and iodine (although I will be omitting the fluorinated ones, too damn dangerous by far. A gas mask or NBC suit wouldn't provide any protection because it would just set the suit ablaze on contact with the vapours of say, chlorine trifluoride. Iodine, bromine and chlorine compounds are on the menu so to speak, though.
Essentially, the halogens form diatomic molecules naturally, F2, Cl2, Br2 and I2 respectively down the column containing the halogens on the periodic table. Busy converting video stream to a format other than fuckin' quicktime.
I've been working all night on my synthesis, passing chlorine gas through a column packed with iodine. There are two possible stoichiometries for iodine chlorides, the monochloride, ICl, and the trichloride. ICl is a bromine-coloured compound, that has a quite low melting point, but can exist in crystalline polymorphs too, until melted, but is easy enough to condense from the vapor phase. This is done in an enclosed system , because the compound is toxic and irritant, like chlorine, or bromine etc. And also it means handling elemental chlorine gas. Gas mask, with cartridges capable of dealing with halogens (fluorine excluded since its so fucking reactive, it'll set bricks on fire in the dilute gaseous state! and it is lethally toxic in a manner the other halogens are not, that is to say, it has its own special mode of toxicity, chelating calcium from blood, when hydrofluoric acid forms, that, and its habit of setting everything it touches on fire more or less, and eating glass.
Right now, I am just converting between formats, and then need to remove the metadata from the files in order to protect my privacy. Will link to the preparation of the reagent in my public lab thread. Its nothing illegal, and certainly not a psychoactive drug. I pity the poor bastard that would swallow this stuff. But all the same, the like of exif metadata has to go.
And if your wondering about the change in my voice, it'll be because there was a gas mask being worn. But the process itself, the equipment setup and use, as well as collection of the product and its purification will be covered. And so will safety, because this synthesis does involve the use of toxic chemicals, the product iodine monochloride itself is corrosive and it also hydrolyzes rapidly on contact with water, including its fuming in the air due to atmospheric moisture levels So it will be distilled directly into a collection bottle without breaking the closed system. Likewise transfer of chlorine-forming reagents into the chlorine generation flask is done by syringe and the transfer line clipped closed when not actively transferring reagents or pushing gas (dried air, dried by the inline condenser prior to the iodine containing column, with the calcium chloride serving to dry both air and the chlorine as it is formed. Ordinarily I would use inert gas techniques, although ICl can be handled without, rather than stabilizing the compound, the gas is to sweep the chlorine gas through the column of iodine, enabling the Cl2 to be generated at a manageable rate yet still drive it through the reactant column filled with I2 without interacting with the reactants. I'll probably go grab an argon tank or three or four before I finish the synth. Also, the rate of flow is important, as too much drives the reaction to produce the other iodine-chlorine interhalogen, iodine trichloride.
