The demand for research chemicals is increasing day by day and so is the sale of it. All the countries have its sets to legal and illegal suppliers who deal with these research chemicals. Even in UK there are many dealers who supply research chemicals. With the development of new and better chemicals people have started to consume these chemicals for various purposes.
The concept of a “chemical substance” became firmly established in the late eighteenth century after work by the chemist Joseph Proust on the composition of some pure chemical compounds such as basic copper carbonate. He deduced that, “All samples of a compound have the same composition; that is, all samples have the same proportions, by mass, of the elements present in the compound.” This is now known as the law of constant composition. Later with the advancement of methods for chemical synthesis particularly in the realm of organic chemistry; the discovery of many more chemical elements and new techniques in the realm of analytical chemistry used for isolation and purification of elements and compounds from chemicals that led to the establishment of modern chemistry, the concept was defined as is found in most chemistry textbooks. However, there are some controversies regarding this definition mainly because the large number of chemical substances reported in chemistry literature need to be indexed.
Isomerism caused much consternation to early researchers, since isomers have exactly the same composition, but differ in configuration (arrangement) of the atoms. For example, there was much speculation for the chemical identity of benzene, until the correct structure was described by Friedrich August Kekulé. Likewise, the idea of stereoisomerism – that atoms have rigid three-dimensional structure and can thus form isomers that differ only in their three-dimensional arrangement – was another crucial step in understanding the concept of distinct chemical substances. For example, tartaric acid has three distinct isomers, a pair of diastereomers with one diastereomer forming two enantiomers.
Initially these research chemicals were used for only research purposes be it chemical research or agro research or medical tests. But now it is being used for purposes such as ‘fun’. Especially youngsters are becoming a big part of the consumers of these kinds of chemicals.
There are many online and physicals stores or dealers who sell these chemicals to buyer in hidden (illegal ways). But one should be very careful while buying these chemicals. Especially because these research chemicals can be very harmful if not used properly. Many illegal dealers do alterations with these chemicals which then becomes harmful. This is the reason one should always buy research chemicals for legal dealers. Buyers should also be careful while buying particular chemicals. They should know in details the right ways to use it and the side effects related to it. Many legal dealers also supply chemicals which have been banned. They may do so because they would want to clear their stock.
So even though research chemicals are available easily in almost all countries, one should do a proper background check of the dealer and the particular research chemical.