[hackinstack]

Hello - I am a *very* amateur home chemist with a beginners lab and am looking for some basic guidance...

In the spirit of halloween I was looking around and stumbled upon a document for the synthesis of Cyalume... (otherwise known as the fun goo in "glow sticks")
http://www.mnstate.edu/jasperse/Chem365/Cyalume.doc.pdf

It looks fairly simple from a lab perspective, but the chemicals involved from my internet searching seem very expensive and/or difficult to obtain. (100mL for $100???) Does anyone have any suggestion for how one would go about making their own without spending a small fortune and mail-ordering everything??? (or if its even possible without running afowl of US  chemical ordering restrictions)

[macman104]

I don't see any reasonable way to do this as a home chemist on a short budget.

[mnakhla]

the trichlorophenol can be made from acetylsalcylic acid after a little bit of tampering...ASA is asprin .. the basic components for triethylamine are laying around the house ..but putting them together to make triethylamine looks like a pain in the a**... even more so then extracting the ASA from the asprin and reacting it a few times to get the trichlorophenol.... the last component the acid chloride of oxalic acid...well first you need the oxalic acid...a couple of ways are possible Although it can be readily purchased, oxalic acid can be prepared in the laboratory by oxidizing sucrose using nitric acid in the presence of a small amount of vanadium pentoxide as a catalyst.[1] On a large scale, sodium oxalate is manufactured by absorbing carbon monoxide under pressure in hot sodium hydroxide. ..wiki =D    the next step would be chlorination ..this is a bit tough.... phosphorus pentachloride is used.... although not to difficult to make...its nasty and hard to store due to instability I.E it will undergo hydrolysis easily..if i remember correctly...have fun ...if you are ever able to make what you want.. you should really post something about your procedure and experiment

[macman104]

I'm not sure I see how you could easily convert ASA into trichlorophenol.  You would need to completely remove the acetyl group, and then hydrolyze the phenyl ether, and then finally chlorinate.  Do you have a shorter method to trichlorophenol?

[mnakhla]

that is actually the method i was implying.... I was kind of thinking a route sort of analagous to picric acid synthesis from ASA..but with trichlorophenol being the product..I.E. chlorination instead of nitration ..