Top 10 Absolutely Essential Pieces of Organic Chemistry Lab Equipment

Personal laboratories in the comfort of your own home can be seen as a sandbox by any organic chemist looking to conduct their own experiments and produce new lab chemicals as they please. However, if not supplied with the right equipment, at home labs can be defective and at times dangerous. That's why I compiled a list of the top ten pieces of lab equipment any chemist will need:

1. Hotplate/Magnetic Stirrer

Absolutely essential. Hotplates are ideal for low-moderate temperature reactions and the magnetic stirrer is perfect for reactions with a long duration. I've seen hotplates with a magnetic stirrer go anyone from $80-$200 online, but for the usefulness your money will go a long way. However, when the hotplate just isn't strong enough, you're going to have to do better than that . . .

2. Heating Mantle

Heating mantles are good for reactions that requiring stronger heating (i.e. distillations) or reactions that have a higher volume. Heating mantles can go anywhere from $75 for a decent 250 mL heating mantle to over $2,000 for a 72 L heating mantle, so prices vary greatly depending on size.

3. Graham Condenser

A high quality condenser, preferably a Graham condenser, are a necessity for processes such as distillations, but they're also just cool to look at. Since it's just glassware, it sells for a relatively cheap price, being on average about $25.

4. Separatory Funnel

For higher yields and and easier separation of reagants, you're going to want to buy a separatory funnel. You might think it's optional at first, but once you purchase your own you'll see how much easier processes such as purification and re-crystallization are. Prices range anywhere from $25-$60.

5. Lab Stand

These are one of the pieces of lab equipment you only realize you need once you begin doing an experiment, but they're important none-the-less. You should make sure you invest in a high quality stand, considering they're going to be holding all your expensive glassware. You can spend anywhere from $10-$200 on average.

6. Round Bottom Flasks

This is the kind of glassware you're going to need for heating and distillation purposes and if you're using a heating mantle you'll need one of these flasks to complete your equipment. They come in all shapes and sizes with some round bottom flasks designed to have multiple necks instead of just one. Round bottom flasks go anywhere from $10-$600.

7. Goggles and Respirator Mask

As much as chemistry is fascinating, it can also be very dangerous. Chemicals could get in your eyes and cause blindness and many complex reactions are accompanied by toxic fumes such as ammonia gas. That's why you're going to need a nice pair of goggles and a high quality respirator mask to keep you safe in the lab. Goggles are pretty cheap with an average price of $20 and respirator masks can be purchased for around $20 dollars as well. However, you could invest in a gas mask which provides eye and lung protection for roughly $150 for a decent mask.

8. Graduated Cylinder

The graduated cylinder is the piece of glassware you're going to need to make accurate measurements. They're definitely one of the cheaper items on this list though, with a price anywhere from $3-$30.

9. Beakers

Can't go very far in the lab without a couple of beakers handy. These can be used for a wide variety of purposes, such as manual mixing and small scale heating reactions. Beakers range anywhere from $2-$30.

10. Volumetric Flask

Last but not least, a volumetric flasks are specially designed to contain reagants of a certain volume. These work well for preparing solutions. Volumetric flasks can go anywhere from $7-$35.

That concludes the list for the essential pieces of lab equipment for any organic chemistry lab, but of course this just touches the tip of the iceberg for the equipment there is to buy. All in all, I hope this list has given you a basic understanding of the essentials of a personal at home laboratory.