Obtaining reagents from chemistry department ???

[slumpvis]

Hi
Our university has plans to provide pill testing facilities for students. What i basically want to know is weather we can skip going to ez-test or dancesafe, and just go to the chemistry department and ask for some "Simon's reagent" or "Marquis reagent"? Are these reagents standard off the shelf things that all chemists would have, or is the only way to get them through one of the orgainzations that sells testing kits ?
Thank you
[ 17 January 2003: Message edited by: slumpvis ]

 

[PGTips]

It is made up of formaldehyde, sulphuric acid and methanol. I don't know the ratios (I heard 9 acid : 1 formaldehyde but nothing about the methanol).
Those are all easily available chemicals and I would expect a university to have large quantities of all three already in stock. Even my old secondary school had loads of the stuff.

 

[flygirlie]

the methanol is actually to slow down the reaction.but its not essential. the 9 to 1 ratio is correct

 

[easy e]

with some research you can make the reagents fairly easily. the ratio 9:1 is not the ratio commonly used. the methanol is there to stabilize the formaldehyde.
on the other hand,
ez test will be happy to supply you with our quality tests;-). send me an email and let's talk about prices..

 

[PlurredChemistry]

well...if your uni is serious about this shit and they have even a semi-reputable chemistry department they should be using their GC/MS (or LCMS)
get more info about what exactly they mean by providing pill testing for students...