Something smells like an outhouse got sprayed by a skunk
I wish I still worked in a lab, i would totally put this up! It definitely permeates everything and you can tell when someone’s used it!
“Oh you ‘did everything in the hood’ huh? My ol’ factory begs to differ!”
In grad school, someone in one of the bio labs dropped a bottle and cleared out the whole building. It was so gross!
Damn that’s brutal!!!
I was looking for information on how it smells and I’m only finding pages that say it smells terrible. Even the Wikipedia only mentions “Due to its diminished vapor pressure, its odor, while unpleasant, is less objectionable than related thiols”
I’m still curious what it smells like though…
Rotten fish, very strong, and it lingers. Even the smallest amount will clear a room.
Found this.
Can confirm. I use it under the chemical hood with gloves on, and even if I use just a few microliters I can still smell it on my fingers hours later
I’d seen that first link already but the second link got it, thank you! For those that don’t want to click:
beta-Mercaptoethanol: rather similar to ethanethiol, but the extra OH group gives it some real staying power. Sort of the “sun and sport” version of the parent compound.
and
Ethanethiol: the prototype of the class. All the basic sulfur-stink notes - skunky and intestinal. Very volatile, too, which really gives it a quick wallop, but at least it doesn’t stay around forever.
