HYPOTHETICALLY:
so, a semi-friend here in the middle east has offered up a vial of purple liquid which he claims is 2c-b... i know not to trust his word, but i wanted to know how / if i can / test such a thing WITHOUT just straight up taking it.

Any thoughts?

mmh.. everytime i had 2cb it certainly wasnt purple.. but who knows? just test a little bit or get some idiot to test it for you.

You can't specifically get a test for it, so it's technically impossible for you to find out what it really is. The tests will come up with similar reactions for related chemicals.

It must have some basic qualities that you can test... solubility in water, for example.

its already disolved in water or alcohol....

the color is just dye added to it... people use dyes for various reasons, not so much the case with 2c-x drugs but many add large amounts of dye to things like ghb to keep them from being added unknowingly to peoples drinks... but it could be any number of chemicals...

http://www.erowid.org/chemicals/show_image.php?i=doc/doc_vial__i2006e1007_disp.jpg

thats 3mg of DOC disolved in liquid with dye...

hypothetically you cuold use wikipedia or google

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pill_testing

2C-B green

thats for a marquis regant. It also shows up red for Robadope

I wouldn't pay for it. If you've got the nuts to try it just ask him for a sample to make sure you aren't getting ripped off.