I am looking for a zirconium alkoxide, preferably one of the first four e.g.; zirconium methoxide, zirconium ethoxide, zirconium isopropoxide, or zirconium n-butoxide. I am hoping for a US based company, but any company will do really.

I am attempting a synth of a rare gemstone, but am in need of this crucial key ingredient. If anyone knows where to find any of these (unlikely but worth trying), I will share my info on synthesizing this particular gemstone. The gemstone in uncut form can sell for up to $4,000 per gram if it is of good quality.

Thanks for any information you can provide.

I will also accept a way to synthesize any of these organo-mettalic compounds from more common materials, such as cubic zirconia, or zirconium metal.

have you used your search engine

This sounds really cool. Let us know how it turns out. Other than that, sorry, it's way over my head.

Good luck.

hey stalky, what do you do for a job cause your hobbies are different--if your into that type of shit--heres one for you--been on the Research and Development table since 1962--many have picked up the file and failed--millions lost on funding-----Develop a paint able to be applied to a clean metal surface whilst said surface is submerged--by diver or machine---so basically there asking for an anti fouling paint able to be applied by diver or machine without having to dry dock the vessel--obviously there would be many other uses---i was involved in the last attempt which was 96--we ended up with like balls of clay, the diver would take a baseball size piece from a bucket and he would spread it over the hull--kneading it into a thin film over the keel--each ball would cover about a sq metre---wasnt found to be cost effective--and the divers nearly revolted from the work---when they pushed and kneaded the ball they had to swim hard to push and knead or theyd just push themselves off the hull--anyway---if someones got an idea and can produce a sample that works--big bucks guys

Im a mechanical engineer, with a minor in chemistry. I would have gone for Chemical engineer but I was lazy in college. I havent heard of the anti-fouling paint, but youre right it could be a multi million dollar invention. My current project for which I need these exotic chems is Synthetic opal. Oh yeah, and this is being paid for out of pocket, my company isnt going to see a dime from this.

I purchased samples of all the major commercial synthetic opals and did a chemical analysis on them, in an attempt to reverse engineer the process by which the were made.

Gilson created opal, is rather simple, but the quality is so low it isnt a real replacement for natural opal.

The opals made by the australians are not true opals at all, mearly a feldspar lookalike, similar on the chemical level to labradorite.

The synthetic opals made by the Kyocera Corporation of Japan are the top of the line in synthetic opals, they look nearly identical but dont get completely clear, they are slightly cloudy at best. Anyway the tests showed trace amounts of zirconium oxide regularly interspaced within the crystal lattice of the silica. My theory is that they disolved zirconium alkoxides in their relative alcohols and then used that solution to evenly distribute the zirconium into the silica. Then by a simple hydrolyzing the alkoxides are converted back to ziconium oxide aka "cubic zirconia". The zirconium would break up the regular silica crystls into a multi-ayered lattice provideing room for water molecules to infiltrate the structure and prodce the brilliant display of colors for which opals are known. If I am right about this, I have a really interesting wasy to make some quick cash. I could "cast" the opal into pre-made molds and have beautiful carvings without actually carving anything.

My only regret is that I didnt pay enough attention in organic chem (I failed that class, girls are distracting).

[This message has been edited by The_Stalker (edited 08-08-2003).]

umm, mine was in subsea engineering and maritime archaeology--my involvement was more at the diving level side so the boffins didnt do anything or invent anything that the divers wouldnt handle--the thesis you propose is way over my head--though on opals--ive been to cooper pedy --seen all the workings--and i was of the impression our opals were fossil based--anyway--good luck in what your trying for mate

Natural opals are an amorphous silica mineral. Basically opal is just a quartz with no consistent internal crystalline structure with water molecules to give it light diffracting qualities. When you look at an opal, the flashes of color you see are light diffracting off a broken crystal plane. The more planes get broken the more "fire" an opal has. In my theory the zirconium serves to break up the natural structure of the quartz crystals on a microscopic level thus yeilding lots of "fire".