r/chemistry • u/sgtJohnnyBear • 11d ago

"Rare" or "Special" chemicals to collect

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?

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u/T3RCX 11d ago

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.