i am looking to purchase some non-polar solvents. does anyone know a place either online or if they can be bought at a hardware store here in the states. looking possibly for petroleum ether, diethyl ether, tetrahydrofuran, or any others that can be easily obtained.

I think it'll be hard to get those hazardous materials in the mail. First, check a painting store around you - thats my best guess... maybe the depot de les homes.

do you exactly what to look for in the painting store, this way when i go in it doesn't seem suspicious. i can't walk in and say "do you have any tetrahydrofuran"? or can i? any decent non-polar solvents would do so if you know something that would specifically be there it would be appreciated.

most of the homework you can do yourself .. most of the solvents can be know by several synonyms, look for msds's on the net they generaly give a short list of other names the solvent you are after can be called ..

Go to the paint/hardware store and have a look... read the containers ingredients see if you can find what you want ..

If you aren't having a lot of luck that way and think you might need to ask, ring, let your fingers do the walking and give the stores a call and ask them that way, they have no need to know who you are or what you look like .. a lot of ground can be covered this way .. and if you fuck up who cares ..



Be industrious ..

thanks for the help, didn't think about calling.

yep calling ahead ..it has saved many hours of running around ..

Still it is in your best intrests to be as descrete as possible, have excuses/reasons for you wanting what you ask for quite often people will go out of their way to help you find what you are after.. if they don't suspect you are going to use what you have obtained for alterior motives.

Also if the person you are speaking to can't help you, don't forget to ask them if they have any idea who can ..

One of the best leads can be to call a major solvent manufacturer ( close to you) and ask them who are their major distributors in your local area, get their details and call those guys ,,, chances are they will have just about everything you need..