[PSbP2VP/NMP+PtCl62-]

Hi

I'm trying to perform a polymerization which requires a super sticky initiator (2-hydroxy-2-phenyl piperdine). It's roughly the consistency of honey and I want to transfer a measured quantity into a round bottom flask.

Is there a standard way of doing this? I tried putting the flask on a balance and measure it out with a spatula a few times but it's hard to do without getting it on the neck / wasting material stuck to spatula/etc.  I'm considering dissolving it in solvent first and then adding it to the flask...

[Borek]

If you can use a solvent - just do it.  I would try to pour a bit of the initiator into a beaker (not that difficult to weight) and dilute with the solvent. Solution should have much lower viscosity and would be probably easy to transfer into a flask. You may need some tricks to make sure you know the concentration, but it is all a matter of tracing masses of everything involved in the process.

Besides, if the initiator is that sticky even mixing it with other reagents can be tricky, so the solvent can make it easier to homogenize the solution and get the polymerization right in all the volume.

[wildfyr]

Delivering in solvent is highly standard.

[Babcock_Hall]

An alternative to a spatula is a glass, metal, or plastic stirring rod that is dipped in the compound then touched to the bottom of the flask.

[DrCMS]

My preferred options are using a plastic Pasteur pipette with part of the tip cut off or a plastic syringe again with with part of the nozzle cut down.  Cutting the ends to make the opening bigger allows viscous liquids to be sucked up and transferred with a bit more control than just getting a blob on the end of a spatula or glass rod.   However, those latter ways are quicker and sometimes more than good enough.

[rolnor]

I agree good trick. I have used that many times for syrups. You can heat the material with a heating-gun also to make it more fluent

[PSbP2VP/NMP+PtCl62-]

Thanks everyone for the answers! I am dissolving it in solvent!!!