Making a chemical that changes color in different liquids
For this video, I decided to make Brooker’s Merocyanine, also called MOED, which exhibits solvatochromism. This means that it its color changes drastically, depending on the solvent that it’s dissolved in. I thought this effect was really cool and I wanted to try it out myself. Also, chemical companies sell it for hundreds of dollars a gram, and I wanted to see how much cheaper I could make it for.
References:
• Procedure: pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/...
• Article Reference: cdn-pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/...
Special thanks to my Patron Jean-Pierre Ribreau (who I forgot to add to the final credit, I'm sorry!!),
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Nile talks about lab safety: • Chemistry is dangerous.
Music in credits (Walker by SORRYSINES): / walker
The -four- five horsemen of chemistry: Ethanol, Dry ethanol, ice cold ethanol, boiling ethanol, distilled water
Xavier 2.0 The *solution* to all problems
wow such a good pun
Ethanol is also a solution to most adult problems, just in a different form
McCarthy's Ghost true?
Jessica Baldwin Blake Isn't ethanol a solvent instead of a solution?
Moral of the video: If you want to solve a problem, *add ethanol to it*
Or distilled water
I need to add ethanol to my depression?
Alcohol: It's both a solvent and a solution if you catch my drift
grifN “To alcohol! The cause of, and solution to, all of life’s problems...” -Homer J. Simpson
@@grifn should work yeah
This man made Merocyanine to save money but made $1000 diamond sparkling water *consistency*
Obnoxious but consistent
it's not about the money. it's about sending a message.
@@lunarbutterfly3394 Nice reference.
@@henrymartinez4160 thanks
1600 dollar diamond sparkling water
You're sitting on a gold mine bro. Selling MOED and Red Mercury should make enough to keep this channel going for decades :P
I doubt it honestly. He would probably very quickly saturate the market.
Nah man, just make blue meth.
@@jetison333 hahahahahahhahahah
a2h
@@laharl2k this dude could make so much more complicated, valuble drugs then meth.
“Ice Cold Ethanol” would make a great band name.
It also makes for a great drink ;)
Everclear in the freezer.
Ice cold ethanol also known as Jagermeister
It really is more like Everclear than Jaegermeister. Jaegermeister has all kinds of disgusting impurities.
Pretty depressing name too
Now that you did it, you could upload your thumbnail to the Wikipedia. I'm sure a lot of people would be very pleased of see some HQ picture of this, with the solvents named with tags.
I was thinking the exact same thing but it looks like he's done it.
Unfortunately it's the image with the solutions out of order by polarity which is visually appealing but may not be the most educational.
@@NortheastGamer I could ( with very little experience ) arrange those in any order you wish ( In Photoshop ) so really order isn't a problem, quality of image is :)
@@kanal2123a Basically anyone over the age of 12 can do that. But that doesn't change the fact that they are out of order. ;)
@@NortheastGamer "That doesn't change the fact that they're out of order" But it does, that's the whole point of what he was saying? The quality matters more then order does. You said it yourself anyone can rearrange them to any order that they please with a little help from photoshop, so just do it.
21:07 the moment he said "liquid rocket propellants" I sat up in bed from pure excitement. nilered, don't forget to take care of your glassware, too. we don't want something like the Great Plasma Shattering again...
Or do we?
@@CraftQueenJr We don't.
Tyk ZssP we’d rather have it than have it needed and not occur, or occur and not get filmed.
"I still managed to make way more product than I needed, and I also learned something in the end, so this mistake really didn't bother me that much." This is why you are good at what you do.
My life motto: "But it's like... Whatever"
re-worded " It is what it is.
It's a vocal shrug.
Holy hell, those self made rocket propellants
hypergolics are fun as heck
Just be careful to keep them from getting too reactive. The balance of rocket fuel to exploding test tubes is a fine line.
Always have a good pair of running shoes on hand when dealing with hypergolics.
Pity so many of them are toxic.
Lucas, wouldn't it be better to have them on feet?
NileRed: Does something *Looks back* *Squirms in slight regret*
what does this mean
@@killiancinnamon its the answer to life
Ahhh, NileRed, my favourite cooking channel.
Forbidden snacks
Toddlers favourites on the menu in one place!
Your voice is so relaxing.
Ikr! I always start to fall asleep from watching his videos
I put my earbuds in and crash to this when I’m stressed 😂
He has a voice you can trust
TheBBQify wel ngl his voice sounds like a realy nice person idk how
@@TheBBQify Perfect description, my dude.
Why don't you change the foto in Wikipedia with yours? Awesome video
I was going to comment the same thing! He needs to declare the photo in Public Domain, though.
There are different licenses that you can use (Creative commons with attribution, for example). He doesn't necessarily need to release it to the public domain.
are fotos captured from fotons?
Blox117 just a guess but I think bene20080 might be German as foto is German for photo
Yes, please! It looks soo much better
Awesome video, NR! Strictly speaking, the two structures of MOED are resonance forms, not distinct equilibrating minima. Polar solvents cause a polarization of the electron density that makes the charged resonance form more representative of the true structure than the neutral form. As this occurs, the energy gap between the ground and excited states shrinks, causing a shift in color toward red.
Why are you verified?
Because he's a laboratory co-ordinator at Georgia Tech I'd say. PhD chem and makes the videos for courses there. Now seriously, why do you copy @Oliver Scarlett-Horrocks?
Ah, I see. You shouldn't have deleted your double posted comment!
Because he's a laboratory co-ordinator at Georgia Tech I'd say. PhD chem and makes the videos for courses there. Did I meme?
SmokeAndClickCircles memeing has been confirmed
5:13 I can almost hear the roommate from off-screen: "Nile, have you seen my vodka?? I had it in the freezer." -- "Nu-uh."
Idea for edible chem: synthesize calcium sulfate and make tofu.
What? Calcium sulfate? U mean like... Plaster? Don't tell me tofu is made from plaster!
@@engineer0239 Ok, I won't tell you.
Bernhard Blietz omg charcoal is in carbon. don’t tell me all the food i eat is charcoal... the same chemical can be used to make lots of different things
@@billyrussell7789 How much charcoal is in your food depends entirely on your culinary skills :)
@@mfree80286 perfection
Have you tried making the Vanillin derivative? It should still be solvatochromic but produce different colors.
or just drink the delicious vanilla liquid
@Pedro Silveira What are you talking about... He meant to use vanillin, which is methoxy-substituted p-hydroxybenzaldehyde instead of the p-hydroxybenzaldehyde in the experiment. Both are them are pretty cheap.
Blox117 *D R I N C*
@Pedro Silveira I have worked with vanillin once, and it's taste is like vanilla, but at the same time not really like vanilla. It's like coming to your own room one day. Everything looks the same, but you feel at the back of your mind that something's missing. Making an artificial flavouring based off of nature-derived ones is hard, as there are a LOT of chemicals involved, and even just removing a few greatly affects the flavour.
So... You made grape juice. Wait, no, terrible looking coffee. Wait, is that old blood? OHHH, it's paprika!
little did u know that he actually made grape juice about 2 weeks ago
@Namy fuck are you on about? Think you better chill, my friend.
@@Bouzsi fr he mad bout nothing
@@Bouzsi don't know what he said but it must of been hella stupid he deleted his own comment lmfao
Damn what happened here
As a lifelong lover of chemistry, this is one of my favorite channels. At every step, I couldn't help but come up with explanations, rationales, or hypotheses for why things happened as they did. Keep up the good work!
Looking forward to the hypergolic reactions. Don’t fret about being a bit behind: quality over quantity!
agreed, this was one of my favorite videos in a long time. Although, they're all great.
I wish I'd had this channel back when I was in school Heck, I wish I'd had the internet back then
Having the wealth of human knowledge at your fingertips is kind of handy. Which begs the question why does there seem to be many more willfully stupid people than ever? Is it more chance to get their stupidity noticed or is there more people willing to remain ignorant? Most people in the Yt comments have no comprehension skills. They interpret what you write to mean the polar opposite of what is stated. Strawmen! Strawmen Everywhere.
I've come to believe that our traditional definitions for intelligence are incorrect when presented as innate attributes, and instead thinking and intelligence are skills. Skills not taught in school and actively rejected by popular culture.
Im the you you wish you could be muhaha! Im glad I could have NileRed to help inspire me about chemistry.
I tell you what, I'm learning more here then I ever did back then. the last thing I remember was the oxygen trick, with magnesium...
@@Mr.Unacceptable "is it more chance" "is there more people" Look who's stupid now
NileRed: uses a different chemical than the one specified NileRed when the results are not what the paper says: **surprised noises**
16:08 - It makes a beautiful color when you use acetone as the solvent (second in from right).
Your videos are so good! I love this channel!
Could you do a video synthetizing *telurium cadmium quantum dots* ? QD's have very interesting properties and it'd be cool if you do a video about them. The process y relatively easy and the best part is that they're fluorescent from green to red under UV light The ingredients are: -Cadmium chloride -Sodium tellurite -Sodium borohydride -3-Mercaptopropionic acid (MPA) -HCl or NaOH (to regulate the pH)
Naimad I think I’ve seen a video with someone making quantum dots before; maybe it was NurdRage or NightHawkInLight.
Ive been making too many dye videos... ANYWAY, look at these rocket propellants.
15:04 The isopropanol one looked so pretty before mixing- 15:51 The acetone one is literally one of my favorite colors yay :D
Both of the colour demonstration and synthesis procedure are soooooo satisfying😊
You rock man! I've had so much doubt in my choice of education, but you keep inspiring me towards chemistry with every video you make. Thank you so much, love your content ^^
the colours are so vibrant! it pulled me in. this is amazing. great work.
gotta love this alchemy stuff and you can't tell me it's not alchemy because i will say it's alchemy you like it or not
It's not alchemy, no gold was made
@@CMThota the real treasure was the ethanol we used along the way
suomi prkl
20:38 one of the coolest looking solid crystals you've photographed
playing with rocket propellants.... please, be careful. I've just discovered this channel and would hate to lose it so soon!
This is one of my favourites videos you’ve made, great job.
Can we just appreciate how he's able to say all those LONG chemical names so fluently-
Please do a quinine extraction from tonic water
I agree! Im building a dye laser and was thinking if it was possible to use quinine from tonic water as laser medium. i wanna make the edible laser legend come true.
Pls extract mercury from salmon or some other fish
Pravan Buljeeon Sweats in Minamoto .
I've been binging your videos for the entire day and honestly if i had these videos while i was in secondary school, i would've enjoyed chemistry so much more.
Great video, really liked the end where you considered the protic effects in addition to polarity in the context of solubility.
I agree the pattern it had on top was really cool and beautiful. Oooo I love the color changing! So pretty!
I was pretty bad in chemistry in school, but it amazes me how much I still know and how it makes understanding your videos alot easier and thus enjoying your videos.
Thanks for the chemistry lesson at the end. Please keep doing that!
Wow, this is a VERY well done video. Good camera work, soothing narration, and simple and to-the-point dialog. You should be very proud of your obvious mastery of the creative process. Never seen your channel before; but I'm glad KZhead sent me here. Never subscribed quicker.
Thanks so much Nile. You're keeping my chemistry learning alive
12:35 Every time I form a double bond, I'm the one who gets kicked out..
Here's an idea for your Edible Chem series. Papain from papayas. Love your channel by the way.
It’s 4 am and that background switch nearly blinded me
I have no idea why the cleanup steps are so satisfying to watch in these videos.
You are creating amazing content. It has to inspire the exploration of chemistry to those who might otherwise become accountants.
NileRed, could you tell us a little about how you get chemicals from Sigma and other professional vendors? I was under the understanding that they would not sell to private individuals. Thank you for any information you have to share!
Sigma (now Merck) is terrible for prvate buyers they charge a bomb. Sigma specialices in selling to researchers on a larger scale fora discount or in making really niche things like solutions of polymers. Any local suppliers you have will be the best, followed by fluorochem, and then by fischer. Fischer pretty much sells everything but if you can find it at a local supplier or fluorochem, it'll likely be cheaper there.
sigma is definitely not a good choice for private users cuz their prices are like cannot-be-higher type. it turns out to be acceptable if u buy a lot.
You can try Oakwood Chemical and Combi-Blocks instead of Sigma. They produce almost the cheapest chemicals.
@@mnfen9792 Fluorochem is oakwood, just like Alfa is Fischer
@@mdavh2582 Yeah I know. Our labs mostly buy their chemicals as building blocks.
Your work sounds so calm. I could sleep to it🙂
A very good lecture on resonance structures and their stabilization, well done, Nile!
2:06 The fan that sent him that chemical: It's enough to make a grown man cry
And that's ok.
I don't even like chemistry itself, but watch every video of yours. Quality of this is amazing.
The color mixing at the end blew my mind. I'm glad this channel is getting a good amount of views; it deserves much more, though.
One of your best in recent memory. Well done! Pretty neat that the tertiary amine works at all.
I was just headed out the door when this video came into my feed. Looks like I'll be leaving about 23 minutes from now.
I'm not sure if that's responsible!
he was heading out the door to do bad things. Your timely upload saved the day！
Mack3nzie Dravid Bwhahaha ha!
Love your videos, how did you become so skilled in chemistry? Are you a chemistry major?
Great video. I've been watching you for a while and really enjoy your videos. Appreciate the time you put into the details and video production.
These videos are a lot of fun to watch after chemistry class.. it's fun seeing how much more I know after class. It's like a progression of my learning
How to turn on NileRed? "Imma vacuum filter the s#*t outa you!"
Nile: *mentions that a chemical didn't work the way he wanted it to* Me: *in pijamas and eating ice cream* rude
Always worth the wait, first class chemistry and presentation.
Bro your voice is strangely calming? i was just tryna learn about colorful chemicals and almost fell asleep, i now know what to watch when i cant sleep.
11:00 “but it’s like whatever”😂👌🏼❤️
A small mistake: the two "isomers" are exactly the same structure, and they are just resonance structures, just like you cannot say benzene and "cyclohexatriene" are two different compounds. The changing of color could be simply explained by solvent effect, which could cause the change of absorption wavelength. Nice video!
Beautiful video. I'm very happy you cannot comfortably fit every one of your patreons' names in a still frame (or at least it looks like it). Hyped up about the coming videos!
I swear the pic of all the solvents lined up with the powder dissolved in them is the most satisfying chemistry thing I've seen for a long time.
yes
You're forgetting to include the cost of labor/hour to produce.
Hey! Amazing video as usual. I've got an idea. Could you make a video showing us the procedure of cleaning your equipment after an experiment?
That would be great video for his second channel NileBlue
I'd like to see a series dealing with waste products and how to either 1) turn them into useful reagents or 2) make them safe to dump down the drain or in the garden.
You just get a bottle of acetone and wash everything with it and let it evaporate overnight to prevent any contamination in future experiments or spectroscopic analysis (*cough* NMR *cough*). Acetone is a godly organic solvent and cheap as hell. You can use diethyl ether if something is being problematic but it produces fumes and is explosive. If working with inorganic substances water or alcohol works just fine though water can take a while to evaporate. When some weird gunk really doesn't want to leave I use some acid/base and heating to wash it off though it's rarely needed. If you REALLY need to use something right after washing just use a heatgun or hairdrier to force the Acetone/Alcohol to evaporate but you should avoid using water if this is the case.
@@Kyrator88 The acetone is enough for the vacum filter for example? It is porous so I'd think that it would be dificult to clean it properly.
Depends on what's in it. I have some filters that I have never been able to get clean - and I've tried so many nasty chemicals on them that it is very unlikely that whatever is left in the filters will leach out into anything I'm filtering. (This is why we never eat anything that comes out of the lab, unless you have dedicated food-grade equipment. The chance of a food product picking up something from a filter is not worth taking.) Start with soap and water. If that isn't enough, move on to stronger things. Acetone works on a lot of things, but not on others. If it doesn't work, you can try a base bath; sodium hydroxide is cheaper than acetone. If a base bath doesn't work, you can try acids. Hydrochloric acid can make salts out of things and make them water-soluble, which is how I usually get metals out of my glass frits. (Manganese dioxide makes a nasty stain, but you can dissolve it out with the right acids.) As long as your solvents are cheaper than just buying a new piece, you just keep trying new things. Make sure you note the one that works in your notebook. In fact, note all of the ones you tried. I have some metal sand, which is just small pieces of stainless steel, that I use to scrub small places. Pour it in to a tight spot and shake it to scrub the sides of the piece. When you're done, dump it into a filter, dry, and it's ready to use again.
Being following you quite a while now, this video has a kick to it extra, love it :)
Man, these videos are so damn interesting and relaxing. I'm literally not even blinking whenever I watch your videos. I also let them on auto play whenever I sleep lol.
You didn't count for your labor and the energy needed, probably it will add some value to your product
"I still managed to make way more product than I needed, and I also learned something in the end, so this mistake really didn't bother me that much." This is why you are good at what you do.
14:58 I could watch the reaction from the DMSO on repeat forever
Very enjoyable video. Looking forward to further videos on other color changing compounds!
My chemistry class has been learning about partial positive and negative charges in chemical compounds. This gives me an entirely new perspective on that lesson. I love chemistry because there’s always something new to learn about. Which basically means it never seems to get boring. I could watch experiments for hours.
You would have to check, but I believe that 4-methyl piperidine is not on the controlled substance list. I know that it can be used in place of piperidine for Fmoc dprotections, so imagine it could work here as well. It would be neat to see some TLC of some of your products. You could look at your purity, then maybe also see the "A" and "B" forms separate depending on what developing solvent you use. This would test your hypothesis that the colors are due to the two forms existing differently in different solutions. What happens when you put this in acidic or basic aqueous solutions? Acidic I would guess would be yellow, basic maybe also yellow? Also, please wear a flame retardant labcoat when working with your rocket propellant.
Bruh this reminds me of that one time I got a 0 percent yield in chemistry because the girl dropped the filter paper with a find powder on it on the floor and we couldn’t recover it.
big oof
i love the look of every stages different yeild. powder was pretty, crystals were pretty, the difference mixtures were so cool and gorgeous. my favorite yeilds are the last two "purple" based viles !!!
Actually, this is a great way to teach about polarity and equilibrium awesome work!
10:30 omg he made redstone
3:27 Strong hands science daddy
Oh man! That purple of the acetone solution is freaking beautiful! What a great experiment.
Since you were successful in making this, not only is there now a secondary procedure for making this (since you substituted an ingredient) but also a video tutorial on the procedure. Thank you and Good Work!!
You are so good that I learn my school chemistry theory form your videos.
:)
We learned about this the other day in chem :o
Excellent demo Red. Thanks for the info.
Love your videos are awesome they are very explanatory and sometimes helps me get tired like a good book!
Hey, I just came across this video and I am thrilled ! I have a question though : why does MOED makes this red colors if its two mesomere forms make yellow and blue ? How blue + yellow makes red ? Violet ? I would imagine it to make more greenish color.
It's not so much that blue + yellow = red, but that white - yellow - blue = red. Remember, the dye absorbs light, it doesn't make light. The blue form isn't blue per se as much it is negative yellow, and the yellow form isn't yellow per se as much as it is negative blue.
It is not a simple addition. The molecules are not in either of the two forms, but in a structure between them. Changing the polarity of the solvent causes continously changing of the electron distribution in the structure, but not the ratio of the two limited structures. So the maximum absorbance wavelength is moving along the spectrum.
Can you make colour pigments for InkJet Printers?
i'd like to see that
No kidding printer ink is crazy expensive if you could figure out how to cheaply produce that at home that would save people a ton of money
@@DudeWhoSaysDeez there used to be a shop here where the guy would refill a pair of them for like a dollar
@@canaan5337 printer ink costs companies pennies to make, it's all artificially inflated. In fact the ink cartridges have small chips that 'read' the amount of ink left, but actually often say there's no ink when there's plenty left. If you try to mess with these chips your printer ends up bricked. Printers and ink are designed to make you spend tons more money than necessary.
@@canaan5337 actually Printer ink is way overpriced and industries only spend about 0.89 cents on one cartridge but sell it for $50 because why not. Capitalism
Very educational video NileRed. Thanks!
Really great video and even better explanation of the reactions and results.
7:39 Final yield was 33 grams, wasn’t this stuff 500/g? That’s like 16 grand. What.
@Silicon Nomad It wasn't available on Sigma though, it was on Alfa.
Damn here I am in a high school chemistry class learning 10 polyatomic ions a week and this dude is making a whole compound
fricken awesome sir. Nice presentation as always. Thanks again.
honestly i dont understand half of the words in this video, but i love watching your channel anyway. keep up the awesome work my dude~
9:29 forbidden cranberry juice
Really nice project! Have you tried watching the crystals under UV light? I'm just curious. The rocket propellant seems like a mixture of fuming nitric acid and hydrazine. :)
Is that possible? I try making hydrazine hydrated form as classic Urea and Sodium Hypochlorite
@the rougemillenial Step one in processing anhydrous hydrazine in the amateur laboratory: Make sure your will is up to date, and your beneficiaries are up to speed on what to do with your estate.
@@mfree80286 Or build a glovebox and make sure it is airtight, take it outside, and wear a full face gas mask with the proper filters. Sounds complicated, might not actually be all the financially draining. Do this at your own risk, though. I have never tried this and don't want to be responsible for anyone's death or harm.
Thanks. I love the dye stuff. I have dyed fabric and it's fun. I also love chemistry. It's why I married my husband. He was one of the few people I knew who could discuss chemistry and was happy to do so. Although he never studied organic chem which is my favorite.
Hello, my name is Matthew.. Sending you some love from Columbus, Ohio. I'm not even going to pretend to understand everything you talk about, but you make watching your videos very entertaining and very well explained. including the small humor. I liked and subscribed. I really enjoyed the Ferro-fluid. I was really impressed and want to give you props for taking something cool and make it cooler. I loved the sharp spikes and patterns much better than the pre-made stuff. please keep doing you brother. and thank you for allowing my 40 year old brain to relearn to love science.