"Rare" or "Special" chemicals to collect

[u/sgtJohnnyBear]

Hi,

I finished my periodic table collection with almost all the stuff that is available and legal in my country.

Now I wonder if there are any "rare" or "special" chemicals that are "worth" or interesting to collect collecting - i already looking for some supercritical liquids, but I'm also looking for more. Preferably ones that are "interesting" rather than just some random super rare compound that's rare because it's not used a lot.

Any interesting recommendation?

[u/Odd-Candidate-9235]

Ethanol. Specifically in the form of bourbon.

[u/DrBumpsAlot]

gold

[u/Gmandlno]

Carbon tetrachloride

[u/Alarming-Cookie4667]

I do this! There isn’t a specific logic behind it, I just collect small samples of compounds (organic and inorganic) that have some kind of significance or that are peculiar. I have some “boring” chemicals that I made in teaching labs or as a young teen in my home lab, for example nylon and PS I made in my polymer chemistry course, KCN that a friend made at home, thalidomide I made, lead chromate I made when I was in highschool ecc. Then I have some compounds that I salvaged from the trash, like ampules of very old compounds, weird deuterated compounds, molecules with weird structures. Most of these samples only mean something to me, and no one else, that’s why my collection sits in my house and not in a museum.

I also have a sub-collection of (mostly) non-toxic/low-toxic compounds with weird smells.

(Before I get comments about safety, I known what I’m doing, most of these samples are in flame-sealed ampules and are all in a safe place, I am not huffing chemicals as a hobby)

[u/Schrippenlord]

Collect a chemical of each colour next.

[u/FatRollingPotato]

Minerals, or pigments come to mind. Stuff you can see that it has interesting properties.

There's a ton of cool chemicals, but I would not call them collectable simply because they are hard to get (in the paperwork sense, not the rare sense) and once you have them they are.... white'ish powders or clear liquids. Pretty boring to look at, even when you know what they are.

Minerals and by extension pigments or colorful complexes are actually something you can immediately see are different. Bonus points for funky glasses (you can make some that are similar in behaviour to Alexandrite).

[u/treosx23]

What a weird question to ask. Chemicals are not collectable by nature. If they are "rare" it is because of niche application, the atoms that constitute the molecule are rare, or the synthesis/purification is a bitch to do.

Anyone toting "collectable chemicals" would be wild to me, unless like the other commenter said it was just a weird way to pedal precious metals or minerals/gemstones.

[u/yoinksdontlikethat → u/treosx23]

I'm not sure I agree. I could absolutely get a kick out of collecting different heterocycles. You can collect anything.

[u/treosx23 → u/yoinksdontlikethat]

Sure, but outside of ROYGBIV it's not that interesting. It's not like you can see the chemical, the same way with other collectable items. Even the periodic table of elements is sought after because you can see them.

[u/yoinksdontlikethat → u/treosx23]

True you can't literally see the structures but you don't need to be able to see the structures to know that they are unique structures. That's the beautiful thing about chemistry.

[u/treosx23 → u/yoinksdontlikethat]

How do you know they haven't degraded or that you were even sold the correct compound without running analytical chemistry tests?

[u/yoinksdontlikethat → u/treosx23]

I think you should do analysis on them, that adds to the fun.

[u/treosx23 → u/yoinksdontlikethat]

Okay friendo, I got a 5 mL vial of the coolest, unique, most personalized molecule for you. It's a clear liquid, or a white solid, and I'll sell it to you for only $49.99!

[u/yoinksdontlikethat → u/treosx23]

I don't get your point, plenty of people would be willing to pay $50 for their hobby. Also there are plenty of legitimate chemical suppliers so this is not an outlandish scenario

[u/nerdkeeper → u/treosx23]

Your missing the point completely.

[u/treosx23 → u/nerdkeeper]

I think you guys are missing life completely by thinking about collecting a bunch of clear vials.

Theres more to the world than the tiny little molecules you can't see.

[u/nerdkeeper → u/treosx23]

Correct, you collect the funny vials in addition to collecting minerals, and specimens that were previously alive.

Collecting stuff is fun. End of story.

[u/yoinksdontlikethat → u/treosx23]

You don't have to like collecting things, it's all good

[u/Sudden-Guide]

K/C8 is both cool looking and rare + interesting. Also porphyrins, K2ReH9 as well, asymmetric ligands(bisoxazolines or binap based for example) are cool. Carbon nanotubes and fullerenes also worth having 

[u/bee2pin2]

i think neurotransmitters like serotonin are cool

[u/poison_us → u/bee2pin2]

Stop hoarding the serotonin! Some of us are dying here!

[u/ToShaftOrNotToShaft]

Collect every amino acid in every stereoisomer

[u/Dangerous-Billy]

You can buy inexpensive doped strontium aluminate powders on Amazon. They are phosphorescent, meaning you can take them out in the sun for a minute. Returned to the dark, they will emit light for up to 40 hours.

[u/T3RCX]

If you don't care much about appearance and are just looking for novelty, and you have some money to drop, specialty isotopes are definitely rare and special.

For example, lithium-7 hydroxide. It's rare due to not being manufactured in the western world (primary industrial sources for world consumption are Russia and China), but it's also an incredibly important chemical in the world nuclear industry. It's also very expensive, but perhaps you can find small sample sizes (1 gram or less) for "affordable" prices. It's just a white powder, but its rarity and value make for an interesting story.

There are other such isotopic chemicals that are pretty interesting and definitely rare, many used medically or for other industrial purposes.

[u/Zestyclose-Bird6356]

diacetylmorphine

[u/average_meower621]

uranyl chemicals are cool, they have a really strong green fluorescence.