Questions concerning NaOh

[shmoof]

With all the authorities recent activity regarding the evil of methamphetamine production, would purchasing sodium hydroxide over the web result in a not so pleasant knock on my door in the near future??

 

[endlessness]

im not from USA, but from what I hear, its possible, specially if you're in a state/area where the meth production is significant.. obviously smaller quantities call less attention, but in any case, it is much better to buy OTC directly in some store, or order to some over the internet to some friends house and do the extraction in another house. Otherwise, go for an A/B extraction instead, and then one can use other weaker bases that are not watched

good luck

 

[JustCas]

This might be an idiotic suggestion since my chemistry is weak as hell but....

Could one not make one's own sodium hydroxide out of more innocuous chemicals? E.g. Calcium Hydroxide + Sodium Carbonate = Sodium Hydroxide + Calcium Carbonate then remove the calcium? I don't know if that pairing will work, they just popped into my head as names familiar from school; or if it would be possible to remove the resulting calcium from the lye even if it did work, I just figure there's always a way to macgyver it although it may be overly complicated or more expensive than just using a weaker base.

 

[expanding]

I beleive the easiest way of making lye is from wood ash and water
Google it
Though im sure finding a store and buying from there would be way way easier

 

[benzyme]

I beleive the easiest way of making lye is from wood ash and water

hmm

that is potassium carbonate or potash, pH 10-11

caustic potash or KOH would be preferable, even more than NaOH

 

[chiral]

You will not get a knock on your door. Safe things to get are DCM, HCl, NaOH, IPA, Pet. Ether. There are plenty of uses for these chemicals besides drug stuff. Boxcar loads of the stuff may arouse suspicion.

 

[corridors of my cells]

yea NaOH can be the biggest problem always... I found a soap factory as a supply i told them im workin on biodiesel experiments and stuff.. so i got like 500gr for free and told me he can sell me like 24kg for gud price you can try ordering from ebay but you know its a controlled chemical and probably is being watched by the government. but that doesnt mean they gonna bust u the next day. We dont have DIY stores here, but if you have any around ur area u can try lookin there, or just visit a soap factory and beg as i did heheh

 

[vladamirr]

This might be an idiotic suggestion since my chemistry is weak as hell but....

Could one not make one's own sodium hydroxide out of more innocuous chemicals? E.g. Calcium Hydroxide + Sodium Carbonate = Sodium Hydroxide + Calcium Carbonate then remove the calcium? I don't know if that pairing will work, they just popped into my head as names familiar from school; or if it would be possible to remove the resulting calcium from the lye even if it did work, I just figure there's always a way to macgyver it although it may be overly complicated or more expensive than just using a weaker base.

Mr. You are on to something Here...

 

[DoingKermit]

I thought calcium hydroxide + sodium carbonate = sodium hydroxide

 

[endlessness]

yeah it is

 

[wabkia]

No hardware stores carry drain cleaner?8)

 

[The Day Tripper]

I thought calcium hydroxide + sodium carbonate = sodium hydroxide

Exactly.

And,

calcium hydroxide + potassium carbonate = potassium hydroxide

Says so right on the wiki page.

Historically KOH was made by boiling a solution of potassium carbonate (potash) with calcium hydroxide (slaked lime), leading to a metathesis reaction which caused calcium carbonate to precipitate, leaving potassium hydroxide in solution:

Ca(OH)2 + K2CO3 → CaCO3 + 2 KOH

Filtering off the precipitated calcium carbonate and boiling down the solution gives potassium hydroxide ("calcinated or caustic potash"). This method used potash extracted from wood ashes using slaked lime.

And another awesome article on bases dug up from google-

Caveman to Chemist Projects: Lime and Lye

 

[glorf]

it's an equilibrium reaction that needs arrows pointed both ways, so it has to be done a certain way. like mixing equimolar amounts and boiling for 5 minutes won't work. directions can surely be found at sciencemadness.org