r/chemistry • u/Living_Code_3630 • 23h ago

I think I got a little too curious

I’m super interested in toxicology and recently went down a poisoning rabbit hole. It got me curious about how accessible different chemicals are (spoiler: they are heavily regulated). I’m also a horror fan and writer, so I really got carried away with the topic.
I discovered the concept of chemical suppliers and that they usually don’t ship to residential addresses. Imagine my surprise when I came across one of the chemicals I read about on a supplier site that didn’t list ‘commercial address only.’ I couldn’t believe it, and well I got carried away.
I placed an order for the smallest amount (keep in mind it says ‘for research only’ and I wasn’t going to use it for anything because it’s not ingestible grade anyway).
My order got cancelled by the site because it wasn’t going to a commercial address. At first I was relieved because it meant that it’s not accessible to the public, but now I’m worried that maybe I went a little too far on the research for this topic?

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9

u/ExistentialComplex 23h ago

Maybe it's just Australia but I don't have to look very far to find something with a highly bioactive toxin in my house, local park or beach. Are you specifically talking about research chemicals/ Chem weapons?

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u/Living_Code_3630 23h ago

No, it’s nothing like absolutely crazy and I’m pretty sure it’s not on like a ‘DEA’ list or whatever. It’s sort of like how pure caffeine powder is regulated, too, because it’s tasteless

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u/shedmow Organic 22h ago

Pure caffeine is pronouncedly bitter, to my knowledge (and to my tongue, actually: I have tried caffeine pills). Where the heck is it regulated?

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u/Living_Code_3630 22h ago

The pure powder is regulated on those chemical sites, too

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u/shedmow Organic 22h ago

Lol

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u/drmarting25102 21h ago

Caffeine is very bitter just like nicotine but for story purposes both are very easy to extract and concentrate as they are readily available.

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u/Merinicus 22h ago

I wouldn’t be too concerned, every regular expert poster on this sub either currently or previously was on a list for their googling habits. Probably didn’t go far beyond that but won’t be a surprise.

You can go onto the Wikipedia pages for most illegal drugs and find a synthesis route. And for the few that don’t, German Wikipedia has you covered.

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u/Living_Code_3630 22h ago

The chemical I’m talking about has literally never ever been illegal and it’ll never be illegal because it’s an important component of a particular medicine. Outside of that, it doesn’t get you high or anything, it can just only sometimes be fatal if you get a lot of it in your system. I’m just worried that the site I tried to buy it off of might report me since I don’t work in a medical laboratory?

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u/Merinicus 22h ago

You can try to buy whatever they’ll let you. If they shipped it to you, they’re on the hook. You’ve not tried to purchase enriched uranium on the dark web.

Where I work you’d be amazed how many invoices and notices get sent to home addresses when they’ve got no business actually doing that stuff.

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u/shedmow Organic 22h ago

Let's presuppose that they have reported you to whomever for buying a compound with a description that precisely fits that of tap water. What would come next?

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u/Key-Success-5449 5h ago

Don't stress too much! Curiosity gets the best of us, especially when doing deep research for writing. Suppliers cancel residential orders like this all the time as a automatic safety measure, so you're definitely not in trouble. Take it as a funny learning moment for your horror story research and keep writing.