http://www.moleculeoftheday.com/2006/07/06/diamminesilver-itollens-reagent-makin-mirrors/ Molecules: You'd Better Learn to Live With Them Sat, 22 Nov 2008 05:38:33 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.0.2 http://www.moleculeoftheday.com/2006/07/06/diamminesilver-itollens-reagent-makin-mirrors/#comment-411 Tue, 11 Jul 2006 02:15:54 +0000 http://www.moleculeoftheday.com/2006/07/06/diamminesilver-itollens-reagent-makin-mirrors/#comment-411 Silver nitrate should be available <a rel="nofollow" href="http://secure.sciencecompany.com/Silver-Nitrate-1-oz-P6502C670.aspx">commercially</a> to Joe Sixpack. "Clear," unscented cleaning "ammonia" is usually a pure solution of NH₃ in water. There may be detergents. The generics are probably the most likely to be pure ammonia. Be very careful with the Ag(NH₃)₂⁺ complex, it becomes explosive after some (tens of?) hours. You could probably precipitate the silver as AgCl by adding salt, or you could just flush the whole mess down the drain, which might not be quite kosher these days, I'm never sure. Note that sucrose won't work. Fructose will, but glucose will probably work better. You probably know about the little diabetic glucose/dextrose tablets, or I bet it's at the grocery store. Acid treatment of sucrose will yield <a rel="nofollow" href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Invert_sugar">invert sugar</a>, which is the partial glucose/fructose hydrolysis product of sucrose. Careful of chloride ion if you use HCl as your acid, since AgCl is almost entirely insoluble. Cheap artificial vanilla contains plenty of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanillin">aldehyde</a>, which will presumably work. Silver nitrate should be available commercially to Joe Sixpack. “Clear,” unscented cleaning “ammonia” is usually a pure solution of NH₃ in water. There may be detergents. The generics are probably the most likely to be pure ammonia. Be very careful with the Ag(NH₃)₂⁺ complex, it becomes explosive after some (tens of?) hours. You could probably precipitate the silver as AgCl by adding salt, or you could just flush the whole mess down the drain, which might not be quite kosher these days, I’m never sure. Note that sucrose won’t work. Fructose will, but glucose will probably work better. You probably know about the little diabetic glucose/dextrose tablets, or I bet it’s at the grocery store. Acid treatment of sucrose will yield invert sugar, which is the partial glucose/fructose hydrolysis product of sucrose. Careful of chloride ion if you use HCl as your acid, since AgCl is almost entirely insoluble. Cheap artificial vanilla contains plenty of aldehyde, which will presumably work.

]]> http://www.moleculeoftheday.com/2006/07/06/diamminesilver-itollens-reagent-makin-mirrors/#comment-400 Mon, 10 Jul 2006 08:13:27 +0000 http://www.moleculeoftheday.com/2006/07/06/diamminesilver-itollens-reagent-makin-mirrors/#comment-400 Aw, shoot, so I can't make mirrors just by dumping silver into lye? 'Cos I have some silver (which is worth like $11/oz these days) and some lye, but no nitric acid, alas. :-/ Aw, shoot, so I can’t make mirrors just by dumping silver into lye? ‘Cos I have some silver (which is worth like $11/oz these days) and some lye, but no nitric acid, alas. :-/

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