Whatever happened to popchef2

Topic created by Curious Scientist
on Fri, 5 Sep 2025 at 11:40

Curious Scientist said on Fri, 5 Sep 2025 at 11:40...

This guy's documentation helped me out tremendously and as longtime chemist in industry/R&D, unrelated to alkaline nitrites, I always appreciated his approach. Never got the chance to talk to or thank him and now I wonder what he's doing.

Curious Scientist said on Fri, 5 Sep 2025 at 11:41...

Typo: meant alkyl nitrites

Popperbate said on Sat, 6 Sep 2025 at 10:49...

Dr Wang also vanished, and so did The Professor. It's like The Bermuda Triangle round here sometimes...i think it would be better if you could login myself...yeh?

realcc said on Sun, 7 Sep 2025 at 18:22...

can you give me a copy of his document? I have been searching for it...

Cake said on Mon, 8 Sep 2025 at 03:17...

I think he was trying to mislead us. Never did once end up with a good batch using his methods. He claimed he had a better way to produce but someone paid him to not release it. WTF.

Popguy said on Mon, 8 Sep 2025 at 23:07...

That is a red flag right there. Nobody is going to pay him not to put his instructions online. Thatcjust screams scam.

Curious Scientist said on Tue, 9 Sep 2025 at 06:00...

To me, from a technical and practical standpoint he was giving solid advice. It's not a difficult process anyway, so most of it was just those little tips in tricks you pick up doing the reaction a bunch of times e.g. set up the apparatus this way, subsitiute this acid, etc. All with solid reasoning. Not necessarily groundbreaking stuff, but if you just straight up didnt get product or it was full of impurities, you probably shouldn't be doing chemistry.

The only thing I was ever skeptical about was the SDE purification process he always talked about, which in my view was something that was only worth trying if the goal was to produce at at scale for the fine chemical market. Theoretically, it would work I think. However, the apparatus one would need to do it at bench scale is a little bit fussy for the average "home" chemist. I don't know anything about whatever business drama he had with whoever and I don't really care. I just wish I thank him or at least talk to some like minded folks like him these days with actual backgrounds in chemistry.

The Professor said on Tue, 9 Sep 2025 at 21:43...

@Curious Scientist

The business drama (dark entity paying for silence) is/was a hallucination; likely originating from the same people that you mention 'shouldn't be doing chemistry'

I've also done vapor phase preparations, which would only be economically feasible at large scale, but I still make for a small, local, group.

All it takes is a retired chemist with time and imagination........nothing I can do that can't be done

Cake said on Thu, 11 Sep 2025 at 03:34...

Curious Scientist: He ran a reddit forum under popchef2 aka wetcotton and there was a post where he was about to come out with some great new way to do continuous reaction under a reduced pressure and someone paid him to not do it. I wouldn't trust this guy with a penny.

Mam said on Fri, 12 Sep 2025 at 11:06...

@The Professor

Glad to see you again :-)

@Curious Scientist

Yes, by far the most knowledgeable participant here. He solved many questions that went unanswered for years. I would say he is THE authority on alkyl nitrites.