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Comment by Herodotus38 | Hacker News Reader

Just reading about that article triggered an olfactory memory of the related compound 2-mercaptoethanol (or beta-mercaptoethanol as it was labeled in the lab). Used to reduce disulfide links in proteins (edit: see more correct response below) so that they would unravel a bit and separate by size more as they travel through the western blot matrix.

Unlike carbon monoxide this compound had a very "this will kill you" smell to it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2-Mercaptoethanol

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2ME is the "gas leak" additive that gets put into gasoline.

It smells like sulfur + burnt rice crackers to me... It's actually not that dangerous of a compound - I've spilled it on myself gloveless and it's not a big deal.

Also a bit of a possibly overpedantic note - you can run gels without reducing the disulfide bonds, but typically those proteins will run through the gel faster, not slower because of a more compact form. Because not all proteins have disulfides, if you reduce them first, it creates a predictable relationship between the protein size and the migration velocity, which is the desirable property, not speed.

Thanks for the additional note, I haven't done lab work in many years and that is more correct.

Are you thinking of Ethanethiol / ethyl mercaptan? I can't find reference to 2-Mercaptoethanol being used as an odorant. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethanethiol

Context matters - I worked in a surface science lab, so lots of gold monolayers being made with sulfur compounds. While I wouldn't say they're remotely pleasant, I'm so used to them that it's more like a gradient where you're like "this could be worse". Pure chemicals are well...pure. It's when it smells like uncontrolled biology that I get uncomfortable.

is that the nasty sour smelling chemical? sort of like sulfur, vinegar, burnt gunpowder, and vodka, mixed together? i used to get a whiff of it at my dad's bench at his workplace.

that sounds like thiolacetic acid, or posibly triflic acid (trifluoromethanesulfonic acid).

Maybe. To me it had a very "industrial-fish" smell is the best way I can put it. Not fishy like Thai fish oil, but maybe like an ocean oil spill site puréed, baked in the sun and concentrated? I remember it provoked a visceral reaction to not smell it more.

Acetic acid and Butyric acid. Used for those clear tool handles. [1][2] It gets nastier once you realize you are smelling the odor of vomit with hints of vinegar.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butyric_acid

[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cellulose_acetate

No worse then a Hershey's chocolate bar...

For anyone unfamiliar with the connection, Hershey's milk chocolate is made with a process that produces butyric acid:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hershey_bar

it isn't that. my dad worked in biochemistry and that's what i'm talking about.

my shitty screwdrivers have the smell you're talking about.

My mistake -- I was thinking of a Newtonian work bench. :-)

Thanks so much for that! I've been wondering for years what that unique smell (from various clear-handled Newtonian tools) was.

I guess it's used where clear or somewhat- clear plastic is used. But does BPA have the same smell over time?

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