Al/Hg with Hg2cl2 Questions

[FlaskGenie]

Would swim have to adjust amount of Hg2cl2 vs. Hgcl2in the usual Al/Hg reaction?
Swims reaction does not reach reflux.  Flask wash yes but not real reflux. It is not very exothermic and Al does not break down very much.  Also if swim gets through this, how would swim combine MM method w/ brightstars technique so swim could triturate freebase.  Did not do bisulfite adduct on keytone but smells, looks, and feels right.  Viscus when frozen.

[SmelliumII]

In SWISII's limited experience Hg2Cl2 creation was abysmal.  Could it be that you are trying to make your own & that you have not quite gotten it down yet?  That was SWISII's situation and his solution never really took off like it was supposed to.  So he went out & bought some HgCl2 & found things to be quite different.  It is my guess that had he bonafide Hg2Cl2 he would have needed approx twice as much as the HgCl to kick it off the same way.

Oh, and keytone should be miscible in alcohol, solvent in tolulene and immiscible in water.

[FlaskGenie]

Yes, you are right on the money.  Swim made his own Hg2cl2.  Swim is beside himself at the loss of keytone.

[Osmium]

> Viscus when frozen.

Then it's not pure ketone.

[Just4Fun]

SWIM has looked all around and could only find a lab grade Hg2cl2. (Not home made) SWIM was able to complete MM Al/Hg reaction but also experienced a slower reaction than explained but the reaction did complete ok. Would swim want to increase the amount of Hg2cl2 used to speed things up?

[Osmium]

Nope. Just give it a little more time to amalgamate.

[MDMA_AcTIvEsTS]

YOU: could also apply a litte external heat to get things moving if not running the natural course. Either in the begging to fire things up, or, towards the end just to urge the reaction to completion.

[terbium]

Another approach would be to use mercuric iodide solution prepared from mercury and tincture of iodine.

[cublium]

> Viscus when frozen.

Then it's not pure ketone.
Let's define viscous.Pure store-bougth ketone(PMK,>96% confirmed via NMR) is quite thick when taken out of freezer.It's lot more viscous than water at room temp also.If ketone is thin it usually contains some (iso)safrole in cub's experience.If it's really thick it may contain some glycol.

[Antibody2]

When Ab2 amalgamates using Hg2Cl2, he does it in boiling water, after amalgamation decant water rince with alcohol and off to the races, doesn't take long at all.

Hg2Cl2 isn't watched/restricted either, nor is it even considered a poison by DOT, lots of good reasons to use Hg2Cl2.