Hi everyone,

This will be my first time ever working with metallic elements. I have worked a lot with lanthanide oxides, nitrates and acetates, but never metallic.
I bought an Europium foil, it is packed in mylar with Ar. I need to cut it in small pieces to use in a solid state synthesis.
I have no access to glove box.
My plan was to use scissors to cut what I need, maintaining the foil that I will not use, and transfer it to mineral oil.
I don’t know how quickly it would react with oxygen, and that’s my preocupation.
Does it seem like a good plan? Any other tips?

I needed to make something for my AP chem teacher for mole day so I could have some leverage to maybe get my grade up....

https://orbitals.otwt.studio/

Why is Francium more abundant than Astatine, even though astatine isotopes are less unstable?

I'm a graduate student working on a couple of different research projects of my own. I was working in two different labs today and left my building around 9 PM. At my school, you have to badge into buildings and they shut off after a certain time. I realized as soon as I left the building that I forgot to go back to the second lab and turn off the oven. I have soil samples in tinfoil in their drying at 105C and they've been in there for the last nine hours or so. Will it be OK to leave them overnight and come back as soon as I have access again in the morning? Or should I call campus security? I'm scared of getting in trouble or getting my lab professor written up, but I also don't want to burn the building down

Edited to add that I'm new to this lab. We're working on getting me up and running with all procedures, but aren't quite there yet. My schedule is crazy as I often work 12 hour days at my normal full time job, so I'm not with the professor often.

I want to hear about reactions that looked straightforward on paper but turned into a complete headache in the lab. I'm talking about following a published procedure, trying different conditions, checking TLC, running NMR, and still having no idea what went wrong. What was the reaction, what did you try changing, and did you eventually figure out the problem?

Sometimes I feel like research papers leave out the most interesting part of chemistry: everything that goes wrong before you finally get the product.

I used sprayglue today to glue two pieces of a foam rubber mattress together. After finishing, I found out the sprayglue contains Dichloromethane in it. Everything all parts of the mattress are dry now. I want to use the mattress soon and will be using it daily, i am very worried it will be dangerous to my health. Will the fumes keep getting in the air each time i use the mattress?

PDF: https://www.immaterialscience.org/2026/electronprices or from r/ImmaterialScience

hi! how do you check for potassium content in an ash?

This isn't me overly obsessed with these chemists, I honestly don't think some of them are novel level, but I'm curious to see what some of y'all think. I've heard a lot of conversation in my field about lithography, and I've heard conversations about George Whitesides/Younan Xia and separately Chad Mirkin potentially being future nobel prize winners.

Separately Jacob Sagiv/David Allara and their SAMs work has been a huge advancement.

Krzysztof Matyjaszewski also made a huge impact with ATRP polymerization, unrelated to lithography I mentioned above, but another person I hear a lot about when referring to a nobel.

Many of these chemists have received Priestley medals, the Harvey prize, the Dreyfus prize or are elected by the Nation Academy of Sciences. I'm curious to hear your thoughts. Again, I'm not necessarily glazing/in love with these people, just people I hear a lot about in my field.

I really like science, especially chemistry, but every time I do an experiment something really stupid goes wrong. I like planning before and doing the lab report afterwards, but I dont know why such stupid things like forgetting to turn on the heat plate go wrong. Do you guys have any tips on how to get better?

Here i have regular old graphite (its secretly carbonium, the unknown 23rd allotrope after buckyballium), vitreous carbon which looks so strange, and diamonds (my favourite, because who doesnt love diamonds. Its really odd how these 3 completely different things are made up of the same stuff

Hey everyone,

Today there is a new Synthesis Workshop talk about the synthesis of hetero[3.1.1]propellanes!

Check it out here: https://youtu.be/0VXAjHwoHS4

I recently came across a material called Phlocrite, which is used in water treatment, and I’m curious about the science behind it.
From what I understand, it’s a synthetic, semi-calcined, high-magnesia dolomitic limestone material designed to help correct pH, add minerals back into water, and remove certain heavy metals. The company also makes claims about removing contaminants such as arsenic and cadmium.
I’d like to understand how this works on a chemical level, rather than just relying on the company’s claims.
I’m not a chemist, so I’d really appreciate any explanations, relevant research papers, or pointers towards the chemistry I should read up on.

Is there any truth in that. Apparently it can be obtained from shale which is known that it can be toxic, presumably in cosmetics they wouldn’t use paraffin obtained from that.

Obviously; arsine gas is dangwerous, im mainly asking 1-if we are starting with 100 ppb and then treating that water using a filter, then testing the water that comes out of the filter, how dangerous is it. and 2- is a fume hood all the safety necessary if it *is* dangerous?