Breaking Bad

[Handlethevibe]

Premieres at 10PM on AMC. I like Bryan Cranston, should be good.

Breaking Bad is the new original series that the AP calls, "heartbreaking, shocking and bitterly funny."

Meet Walter White, high school chemistry teacher. Sleepwalking through life when, boom, a terminal diagnosis changes everything. Liberates him. Empowers him to use his chemistry skills anew: to man a rolling drug lab and finance his family's future. Breaking Bad: Change the Equation.

[Servo2000]

Huh. Probably ought to figure out what channel AMC is here.

[ghostdeini]

heard about this... hope they broadcast this in HD

[e0d9n0b5]

Watched some interviews there they said a DEA chemist showed them how to make meth for the show by cooking up a batch for them on video then playing it for them in time lapse.

[jeepster]

i missed this - anyone care to tell how it was? i think they're replaying it at some point tonight...

[ang_kangkong]

Shit — late on this thread.

Anybody else seen this? Most awesome new show.

Mercury fulminate rules, man.

[pwnzj00]

It finally got good, and the season finale is this Sunday...they spent too long taking care of the bodies and not enough time slanging and making fat stacks, a-la Weeds.

[Fluke Walton]

The first 3 episodes were awesome, moving along so fast. Especially w/ the dude tied in the basement. It hasnt been as good now, there are focusing more on Walt's family...I can't believe the season is almost over already

[baskew]

Bald Walt = so Crazy looking!

I love this show, it looks like he's going to turn out to be a bad-ass...

[bernt]

Damn, I forgot about this show. The last episode I saw, he tossed the body in the bathtub and it melted through the floor.

I've got to get on some downloading of these episodes. How many did I miss?

[Fluke Walton]

Damn, I forgot about this show. The last episode I saw, he tossed the body in the bathtub and it melted through the floor.

I've got to get on some downloading of these episodes. How many did I miss?

That was some nasty shit. I think that was the second or third episode, so your pretty behind

[ang_kangkong]

You can def. watch it On Demand, if you have it. Tell me if they put the swear words back in that they censored.

I thought it was really good, all the way through. It's not weeds, although there are similarities, so it shouldn't go at the same pace and cover the same shit. I like that they're dealing with family issues too, after all, that's why he's doing it, to leave his wife and kids some cash.

Anybody start to get interested in chemistry after watching this shit? I wish I knew more about it now, just to verify if the shit that happens on the show would really happen in the real world. Maybe put it on Mythbusters?

[Fluke Walton]

You can def. watch it On Demand, if you have it. Tell me if they put the swear words back in that they censored.

I watch it on demand primarily and the swears are weird. Early in the episode the word shit might be edited out, but 15 minutes later it is said uncensored clearly.

[ang_kangkong]

Anybody see last night's finale? Wasn't too bad, considering it was supposed to be 9 episodes, and they ended on the 7th.

Did anybody go online right after to talk to Bryan Cranston?

[crucialkc]

not a bad show. i need to watch the rest of the episodes (only watched 2 so far)

[Serge]

i fucking loved that part when he went right up to the drug kingpins place and came out with some insane explosive shit. that was badass.

[Servo2000]

I see that they've got like two episodes up on the AMC TV website, am I going to have to start pirating the rest?

edit: I see you there now, scroll bar, you sneaky son-of-a-bitch.

[monkey nuts]

they blew up my old salon location for this show.

ahh another TV show that makes Albuquerque look like shit

[teh]

Anybody start to get interested in chemistry after watching this shit? I wish I knew more about it now, just to verify if the shit that happens on the show would really happen in the real world. Maybe put it on Mythbusters?

Already interested in chemistry. It is fairly chemically accurate compared to most of TV, but there are still flaws and most of them are in the last episode.

There are from memory:

1) Mercury fulminate does not form large crystals like they were shown. It'd be fairly difficult to pass off as the same meth that they had been making.

2) I highly doubt a PhD would decide to synthesize meth from pseudoephedrine... The phenyl-2-propanone route that he chooses in the finale is a much better choice. That's actually how most meth used to be produced back when Hell's Angels was in control of most of the production and distribution. It is also the favored route of superlabs in Mexico and elsewhere.

3) I'm also surprised that he decided to steal methylamine instead of just phenyl-2-propanone which is fairly widely used in industry and should have been at the chemical supply plant. Also, wouldn't have chosen that route to P2P as there are easier ones that don't involve additional equipment, but maybe one of the consultants for the show knows more than I do.

There was actually an article in Chemical & Engeering News last week about the show. Apparently they use molded silicone for the meth crystals. Also says they are leaving out a lot of details on purpose so that they don't teach anyone how to really cook meth.

[RFKorp]

I've gotten so into this show. Anyone know how long we have to wait for season 2?

[Baeyer-Drewson]

Already interested in chemistry. It is fairly chemically accurate compared to most of TV, but there are still flaws and most of them are in the last episode.

1) Mercury fulminate does not form large crystals like they were shown. It'd be fairly difficult to pass off as the same meth that they had been making.

Was thinking the same thing. I also highly doubt that mercury fulminate is THAT explosive. And if so, how did anyone walk away from that explosion?

2) I highly doubt a PhD would decide to synthesize meth from pseudoephedrine... The phenyl-2-propanone route that he chooses in the finale is a much better choice. That's actually how most meth used to be produced back when Hell's Angels was in control of most of the production and distribution. It is also the favored route of superlabs in Mexico and elsewhere.

People would use "pseudo" because it's already enantiomerically pure and requires only a single reductive dehydroxylation to turn it into a single enantiomer of meth, ideally the more active isomer.

Check it:

Lose that OH and replace it with H? Meth...

The propanone route gives you racemic meth (because the reduction process is not stereoselective)... And racemic is less active by unit weight...

3) I'm also surprised that he decided to steal methylamine instead of just phenyl-2-propanone which is fairly widely used in industry and should have been at the chemical supply plant. Also, wouldn't have chosen that route to P2P as there are easier ones that don't involve additional equipment, but maybe one of the consultants for the show knows more than I do.

I'm not sure what you are talking about here but the propanone route would always require methylamine anyway; it's a reductive amination of phenyl-2-propanone by methylamine and a reducing agent.

I don't do any related chemistry (obviously), but I have to deal with restricted chemicals (and the concomitant paperwork) at work all the time. AFAIK both P2P and methylamine are both highly restricted. Purchasing either of them would draw the attention of law enforcement. Even the precursors to P2P are highly restricted, and some of the required reagents. The reagents for doing the reductive dehydroxylation of pseudoephedrine are also highly restricted, for the same obvious reason.

At the end of the day, Walters decision to use a particular synthetic route would have to be based on the ability to obtain all required reagents or precursors for that route.

[Baeyer-Drewson]

Season 4 Ep 1 is now up... Haven't been this excited for a new TV episode since I was a kid...

[Epiphany]

There was so much tension in the first half of that episode, during the second half my mouth was open for a good 10 minutes. Seriously one of the best season premiers I have ever seen.

[BIZ]

great show

[Baeyer-Drewson]

Brilliant series return episode...

[bfan]

so damn good

edit: when I first saw this show a few years back I was still deciding what to study and I thought "damn how cool would it be if I learned the chemistry behind this show." and now here we are.

[Baeyer-Drewson]

Notable chemistry highlights from last night's episode:

The allusion to the previously used hydrofluoric acid was a nice touch (the bathtub scene from earlier in the series). Commercial (48%) HF is one of the most ridiculously dangerous things you could play with in a lab. It will indeed dissolve tissue, bone, glass, ceramics (bathtubs), etc... Any conc. HF chemistry must be done in plastice (PE) containers, as Walt clearly told Jesse earlier in the series. Pretty crazy way to make a body disappear. The safety aspects give me nightmares: HF safety.

When Gus' assistant was "cooking", and Walt was praying he'd forget the aluminum, he added sodium hydroxide to the reactor. If he was adding aluminum the only process he could feasibly have been doing is a reduction amination with mercury-aluminum amalgam (still one of the more popular routes to MDMA). In this case, no hydroxide is needed, and may actually have been detrimental to the reaction.

[Layne]

I genuinely understand everything you described here and I still laughed. Maybe I'm underestimating the sufu crowd, but I can't see most folks making it to your last sentence.

Was thinking the same thing. I also highly doubt that mercury fulminate is THAT explosive. And if so, how did anyone walk away from that explosion?

People would use "pseudo" because it's already enantiomerically pure and requires only a single reductive dehydroxylation to turn it into a single enantiomer of meth, ideally the more active isomer.

Check it:

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/e/e5/%28%2B%29-Pseudoephedrin.svg/175px-%28%2B%29-Pseudoephedrin.svg.png

Lose that OH and replace it with H? Meth...

The propanone route gives you racemic meth (because the reduction process is not stereoselective)... And racemic is less active by unit weight...

I'm not sure what you are talking about here but the propanone route would always require methylamine anyway; it's a reductive amination of phenyl-2-propanone by methylamine and a reducing agent.

I don't do any related chemistry (obviously), but I have to deal with restricted chemicals (and the concomitant paperwork) at work all the time. AFAIK both P2P and methylamine are both highly restricted. Purchasing either of them would draw the attention of law enforcement. Even the precursors to P2P are highly restricted, and some of the required reagents. The reagents for doing the reductive dehydroxylation of pseudoephedrine are also highly restricted, for the same obvious reason.

At the end of the day, Walters decision to use a particular synthetic route would have to be based on the ability to obtain all required reagents or precursors for that route.

[M4TM]

Where to watch online??? Need to watch ep 1 now!

Edit : here http://www.amctv.com/breaking-bad/videos/breaking-bad-episode-401

Dope ep.

[Baeyer-Drewson]

Hahahaha... yeah I'm well aware that most people wouldn't follow the chemistry, just wanted to clarify some of teh's points.

Anyway, what does everyone think about Gus killing Victor? What was the primary motive?

He took it upon himself to use a multimillion dollar lab to start cooking without Gus' authorisation, but I don't think that was it.

He was presumably the only other person to know Walt and Jesse's recipe/procedures, and was a potential liability.

Or, more probably, Victor had been witnessed at Gale's apartment and was a liability for this reason. Plus it allowed Gus to give a nice demonstration of his capability and ruthlessness, which Walt and Jesse had so far seen little of.

Your thoughts?