You Probably Shouldn’t Eat That

Interesting chemicals you probably shouldn’t consume!

[theforbiddensnacks]

When I was in undergrad there was a page I followed on insta that posted interesting facts about chemicals daily. I really enjoyed it, but it got shut down before I graduated (because the person who ran it graduated I think).

Now I’m a research chemist myself, and in the spirit of that first ForbiddenSnacks insta page, and Derek Lowe’s “things I won’t work with” blog series (which I also found very inspiring) I’m going to start one for myself! I look forward to keeping all these horrid little chemicals all in one pantry!

Happy Snacking!

[exxos-von-steamboldt]

[delicatefury]

I just googled this and… yes, it’s absolutely real.

And there are so many articles and videos and discussions. Like, the scientific community is buzzing about this.

So much research will have to be redone because the data was absolutely compromised, off by orders of magnitude, by using standard lab gloves.

The world is probably not horrifically contaminated by microplastics. Sterile laboratories, however, are contaminated by latex and nitrile gloves.

Thank God someone bothered to check.

[kiralamouse]

Since I hate having to do my own searches to verify stuff, here’s a Science Daily link and the journal article it cites for any similarly lazy-but-conscientious people after me. (And the University of Michigan press release, for what it’s worth.)

[batsandboba]

“scientists don’t want you know” is a phrase that always cracks me up because if you actually meet a scientist they will be shaking and crying like an overstimulated chihuahua with the need to let you know

[reagentry]

Pro tip: if you put googly eyes on your lab equipment your work environment will be more whimsical. However, be warned: you’ll feel a lot more guilty swearing at the HPLC when it’s staring back at you looking all innocent and sweet.

[cant-think-of-a-good-one]

ouhhg i have to resist the urge... to eat ion exchange resin beads....

they look like sweet.... milk tea toppings........

[theforbiddensnacks]

…… or fish eggs

Crunchy though, since they’re usually made of polystyrene with little + or - charges on every repeating unit. Super useful stuff! The wiki article is a good read.

Turns out you could eat them and it might be ok. and certain types are actually used as medicine!

Ion-exchange resin - Wikipedia

Ion-exchange resin - Wikipedia

[theforbiddensnacks]

Our forbidden snack #1 is Lead Acetate! Truly the most forbidden and the most snack of the bunch - this poison was famously made by the Romans when they boiled wine in lead vessels! The acetic acid (or vinegar) in wine sour wine would leach the lead out of the pot, making lead acetate (and possibly also lead citrate and lead tartrate).

On first glance, that sounds awful, but it turns out that lead acetate is SWEET, earning its nickname ‘sugar of lead’. The Romans purposefully concentrated wine in lead vessels to sweeten it, not knowing that it was neurotoxic.

Lead acetate’s chemical structure is lead with a 2+ charge with two acetate 1- ligands around it. Most often it crystallizes as a colorless trihydrate as a (There’s also Lead tetraacetate, but it’s less stable, and a good oxidizing agent)

Paper strips soaked in aqueous lead acetate are used to detect toxic hydrogen sulfide. In the presence of the gas, a substitution reaction occurs, leaving lead sulfide, which turns the paper dark

Simple lead acetate

Lead diacetate trihydrate coordination sphere

Main picture By Dormroomchemist at English Wikipedia, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3213357

File:Lead(II)Acetate.jpg - Wikimedia Commons

File:Lead(II)Acetate.jpg - Wikimedia Commons