Where can you buy reagents for DIY biochemistry?

[Ulysses1994XF04]

I've been searching online for places that sell chemical reagents to do biochemistry at home but the major chemical manufacturers that make research-grade reagents (Sigma Aldrich, Fluka, etc) simply won't sell to individuals; they'll only sell to certified labs at universities, companies, etc.

Where can an individual buy things like chromatography-grade silica, ether or pure organic solvents for extractions, pure amino acids, etc?

[Dakota]

Well I had planned on making a company to re-sell reagents to the DIY community, but then I realized I'm not that passionate about buying and selling pipette tips and EDTA, plus I have little startup capital.  For anyone else though, I think there is a definite market demand for "amateur" science reagents.  Not just on DIY, but on sciencemadness and other forums, people constantly ask, "where can I get this?".  A few companies have become well known for supplying basic reagents to people, United Nuclear, HMS Beagle, HomeScienceTools (where I got about $150 worth of stuff).  There are websites out there that will sell you the reagents.

But anyway, I just formed an LLC 6 days ago, and now I can order as an official company.  So if it's worth the filing fee and 5 minutes it takes to fill out an LLC online registration form in your home state, I'd say go for it.  I'm in Massachusetts  and we have the highest filing fee for an LLC in the country, of $500.  I could have bought toooooons of cool stuff if not an OpenPCR machine with that, but instead I needed that just to order basic things.  Plus it's $500 a year to keep the LLC.  If I'm generating revenue, it's not terrible, but otherwise it's a big fee when most other states are $100 to $200.

But I did a pVIB transformation and it was all worth it.  It was like holding the night sky in my hand on a petri dish, very cool!

On Sun, Nov 18, 2012 at 4:43 PM, Ulysses1994XF04 <ben...@comcast.net> wrote:

I've been searching online for places that sell chemical reagents to do biochemistry at home but the major chemical manufacturers that make research-grade reagents (Sigma Aldrich, Fluka, etc) simply won't sell to individuals; they'll only sell to certified labs at universities, companies, etc.

Where can an individual buy things like chromatography-grade silica, ether or pure organic solvents for extractions, pure amino acids, etc?

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[Dakota]

You may also be able to register as a sole proprietorship for cheaper  and get a "doing business as" status from your state department of commerce website, which would allow you to get certain reagents.  Most of DIYBio is just ordering salts and buffers and dyes (and sometimes DNA) to run gels and it's a bit curious why these huge companies have gone so far as to distance themselves from an ever growing market of DIYer's.  Electronic DIY companies like Sparkfun, Maker Industries, Adafruit Industries seemed to sprout up overnight by selling electronic supplies and information associated with their use.  No doubt there are some startup Biotech companies that tailor to the DIY crowd, but there still seems to be a lot of open space for new companies to move in.  I wouldn't be surprised to see within the next 2-5 years some serious Biotech/Chemistry companies that tailor to the DIY science crowd.  Or maybe I'm wrong, only time will tell.

[Matt Lawes]

Hey folks I hear you about the issue of buying reagents.

Let me suggest something.

I have an LLC - Molecular Forges which will soon be manufacturing specialty chemicals of various kinds - not stuff most DIYers would want though.

However I am already set up as a customer with Fisher Scientific and Chemglass. I could easily add others.

How about I act as a purchasing agent for the DIY group? All I would ask is that you pay the original product and S&H costs that I incur on your behalf and then the cost of shipping from my company to your location and a small fee of $10 or 10% of the purchase (whichever is greater) for my time.

Thoughts?

Best,

>matt


Sent from my Verizon Wireless 4G LTE DROID

-----Original message-----

[Nathan McCorkle]

You could also try getting a PO box from the UPS Store, this would at least around having a commercial address as the shipping endpoint

On Nov 18, 2012 1:43 PM, "Ulysses1994XF04" <ben...@comcast.net> wrote:

I've been searching online for places that sell chemical reagents to do biochemistry at home but the major chemical manufacturers that make research-grade reagents (Sigma Aldrich, Fluka, etc) simply won't sell to individuals; they'll only sell to certified labs at universities, companies, etc.

Where can an individual buy things like chromatography-grade silica, ether or pure organic solvents for extractions, pure amino acids, etc?

--

[Avery louie]

A few good distributors I have worked with are phoenix biotech, carolina biological, and  bioline...none of them were particular about where the items were shipped to, as far at i can tell.

When in doubt, try to order stuff and if they dont ship, find somone else.

--A