Lab techniques/tricks they don't teach in books

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Discussion Overview

The discussion focuses on practical lab techniques and tricks that are not typically covered in textbooks, emphasizing experiential knowledge gained through hands-on work in laboratory settings. The scope includes various tips for handling organic compounds, equipment, and even some humorous insights into lab culture.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant shares a technique for purifying impure organic compounds using hexanes and a warm water bath, noting that while it doesn't always work, it can be a faster alternative to column chromatography or recrystallization.
  • Another participant suggests that adding a few drops of DMF to reactions with acyl chlorides and SOCl2 enhances the process, emphasizing the importance of adding DMF before SOCl2.
  • A cautionary note is provided about lifting volumetric flasks by the neck, sharing an anecdote about a mishap that resulted in a spill of dye due to the flask breaking at the seam.
  • One participant humorously advises against allowing grad students to drink decaffeinated coffee, claiming it negatively affects their productivity, and suggests avoiding windows and clocks in research labs.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants share various tips and experiences without any explicit consensus or disagreement on the effectiveness of the techniques discussed. The conversation remains open-ended with multiple contributions reflecting personal experiences.

Contextual Notes

Some techniques mentioned depend on specific conditions and may not be universally applicable. The effectiveness of certain tricks may vary based on the context of their use and the materials involved.

Who May Find This Useful

Laboratory practitioners, students in chemistry or related fields, and those interested in practical lab techniques and culture may find this discussion beneficial.

gravenewworld
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What are some tricks you have up your sleeve in the lab that they really don't teach you in any book and that you can only gain through experience in the lab?

-One of my favorites is when you take an impure organic compound, put it in a flask with hexanes, and spin it on a warm water bath without vacuum for 10 minutes, filter it and it comes out insanely pure after filtration. Doesn't always work, but it a nice and fast trick to try to save time instead of doing a column or recrystalization. Heck sometimes a column is difficult and this works better than it.

-Stuck glassware? tap it lightly with something wooden or even more lightly with then end of a pair of metal scissors around the joint and off it comes.



I can probably think of more later. What tricks do you have?
 
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Add some DMF (a few drops) to your reaction to make acyl chlorides with SOCl2. Its more better gooder with it than without it. Be sure to add the DMF before you add the SOCl2!

You can dry a sample by adding some heptane and rotovaping it to dryness several times.
 
Never lift a volumetric flash by the neck, we have a lovely purple strain in the middle of the workshop where someone lifted a volumetric flask by the neck and the seam between the bulbous bottom and the thinner neck gave way and dropped a load of dye for aluminium anodized parts.l
 
Never let your grad students drink decaffeinated coffee ... their productivity will drop. Also, avoid having windows and clocks in your research labs. :biggrin:
 

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