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Butanolic Beverages

For a brighter tomorrow
 
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To paraphrase the wikipedia page:

1-butanol is 3 times more toxic than ethanol (if LD50 is the only factor)

1-butanol is 6 times as intoxicating as ethanol

I see a cost-benefit analysis here. Make your benders half as toxic or get twice as drunk before you die. Personally I'm glass half-full kind of guy.

sneakythumbs, Jan 12 2010

Get Crunk http://en.wikipedia...bolism_and_toxicity
[sneakythumbs, Jan 12 2010]

not good for you! http://actrav.itcil...rn/osh/ic/71363.htm
[xandram, Jan 12 2010]

Lack of hangover potential http://www.ncbi.nlm...gov/pubmed/12960505
Interestingly non-hangovery [nineteenthly, Jan 13 2010]


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Annotation:







       How is this an invention?
ldischler, Jan 12 2010
  

       Would it be intoxicating in the same way though? I don't think it would. People use methanol and propanol for these purposes of course, but is this not going to feel horrible? For instance, your link attributes hangovers partly to butanol, so might that not mean that as well as it being relatively toxic, it would also give you the nasties almost immediately?
nineteenthly, Jan 12 2010
  

       <spoken as McCoy, speaking as Spock>To expect someone to order poison in a bar is... illogical.</saM,saS>
lurch, Jan 12 2010
  

       is that the stuff you put in refillable cig lighters?
butane...
xandram, Jan 12 2010
  

       //How is this an invention?//   

       If you mean that a chemical cannot be an invention inandof itself, I updated the title. I hope this helps
sneakythumbs, Jan 12 2010
  

       There is a whole range of alcohols out there, and I have tasted many of them. Most are pretty disgusting, and only the lower ones are water miscible to a significant degree. Butanol is miscible in water only to a modest degree but tastes so-so; the higher alcohols are generally immiscible, meaning that cocktails would be layered structures (not necessarily a bad thing).   

       We seem to have skipped the propanols, which ought to be interesting.   

       I think we should undertake, inter alia and quid pro quondam ipse sphinctor, to do a systematic study of the effects of these other ols.   

       Also, many other organic compounds could be explored as beverage enhancers. For example, chloroform and ether must be soluble in alcohol and hence, by extension, in alcoholic beverages.   

       If nothing else, this would discourage people from drinking out of plastic "glasses", than which nothing is more barbaric.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 12 2010
  

       One could probably dissolve higher alcohols in lower ones. I envision a scheme of progressively lower concentrations of higher molecular weight alcohols.
bungston, Jan 12 2010
  

       That could work. On the other hand, the higher alcohols are probably not going to have many interesting pharmacopsycholgical effects. But worth a try.
MaxwellBuchanan, Jan 12 2010
  

       A good point about miscibility. I think butanol (depending on isomer) starts to separate at 7.5mass% which may or may not bother you. Ethelyne Glycol is another additive to explore, fairly non-toxic but does kill children who scull (american = chug?) it back because it tastes sweet. Not sure how it would affect the solubility of other alcohols etc.
sneakythumbs, Jan 13 2010
  

       I totally overlooked that but did you read the titles of the two reverences cited for that line ([37],[38])?   

       [37] "The composition of surrogate alcohols consumed in Russia"   

       [38] "Butanol ingestion in an airport hangar"   

       brutal. Anyway I'd argue that I'm not suggesting butanol abuse for alcoholics but rather legitimate range of butanolic beverages you could buy at a bottle store.
sneakythumbs, Jan 13 2010
  

       Well, if it gets tagged for deletion then it does but I think the concentrations of butanol in common liquors is slim to none, especially compared to the ethanol levels.
sneakythumbs, Jan 13 2010
  

       Mixtures of alcohols sometimes differ from mixtures of one alcohol with water. For instance, methanol and ethanol together in the right proportions would be less harmless than the same dosage of methanol on its own because (i think) the enzymes which would otherwise render methanol harmful are occupied in processing ethanol instead. Also, as can be seen from my link, it's claimed that butanol and the like don't necessarily contribute to hangovers. This makes me wonder about replacing some of the ethanol with butanol in order to make a drink stronger for less, but it doesn't mix very well.   

       The thing about that safety sheet is that the effects it describes on ingestion are somewhat similar, with the exception of the abdo pain, to those of ethanol anyway. Reminds me of the dihydrogen monoxide thing.
nineteenthly, Jan 13 2010
  


 

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