Where can you buy chemicals in Canada?

[MicroMan2]

I would like to know if there's any shops that sell small amounts of a reagent.Like 96% Ethyl Alcohol. Shipping to Canada is a must. Thanks in advance.

[apochronaut]

You should be able to get a permit from to buy it from the AGLC. I'm not sure who the mfg. is over there but here in Ont. , it's Commercial Alcohols in Brampton Ont. It comes in 500ml. bottles and is around 13.00. 100% anhydrous ethyl alcohol. You may be able to buy larger containers too.
It's made from corn.

[Oliver]

Ethyl alcohol (ethanol) can be bought in drug stores etc. It is sometimes sold as rubbing alcohol (and then might also contain isopropyl alcohol). It can be used for making these small fires for keeping food warm in restaurants or ethanol stoves. It should therefore be easily available locally.
Oliver.

[zzffnn]

It depends on what chemicals you want and what concentration/purity/grade. US drug stores sell 91% isopropyl alcohol, but not 96% ethyl alcohol, for example. Some online stores sell some chemical as well (Google it).

[Oliver]

US drug stores sell 91% isopropyl alcohol, but not 96% ethyl alcohol,

Interesting, did not know that. Maybe it is the pure form? Sometimes they add something to it to not make it drinkable so that it can be sold?

[zzffnn]

There may be region-specific alcohol laws. Not sure. I too guess they make it isopropyl instead of ethyl, so that people won't be able to drink it. In many applications, they work the same. I use that to clean my car/house sometimes.

[apochronaut]

Alcohol laws can be very different from country to country, so Oliver and Fan, your circumstances are very different from MIcroman2's. He apparently lives in Alberta and must comply with the provincial laws in order to obtain pure ethyl alcohol. All of the provinces in Canada have government run liquor commissions and apply taxes to consumable alcohol. Anhydrous Ethyl alcohol is pure grain alcohol but packaged for industrial use. It can be consumed, just like vodka. Some say, it is just as good or even better, especially at 1/2 the price . Due to it's consumability, it is a regulated product but not taxed , so it is a lot cheaper than vodka. You therefore must apply for a permit from the relevant jurisdiction's liquor commission in Canada to obtain it for research or processing use( i.e. in tinctures or vanilla extract etc.). In this case it would be the Alberta Liquor and Gaming Commission, I'm pretty sure, or it's successor , if the name has been changed. To buy it,it is done as a special order from an ALGC outlet, with a permit, that must be applied for. It might be possible, in Alberta, to be able to get it through a pharmacy with a permit but that is likely not the case. I'm not an Albertan, so don't know their fine details of law but Canadian provincial laws regarding the marketing of consumable alcohol are pretty consistent, with minor differences.
An interesting factoid. Up until, Walmart mushroomed as a liquor outlet in the U.S., for many years the L.C.B.O. or the Liquor Control Board of Ontario, was the world's largest liquor buyer. They purchased a full range of alcohol based products as a giant retail outlet monopoly for a market of about 13,000,000.
There are various theories about the good or bad of this but one thing is for certain; when they go shopping , they get good deals.

[Peter]

Hi MicroMan2,
I don't know about Canada but in many countries ethyl alcohol is available as methylated spirits (meths for short), usually sold in supermarkets and hardware shops. This is 95% ethyl alcohol with some additive to render it undrinkable also, usually, a purple colouring agent. It can generally be used as is but I distill it to remove the colour.
Hope this helps.
Peter.

[merrimoles]

If it's pure ethyl alcohol you want, your best bet is the local liquor store where (in Alberta) you can buy a number of 95% pure grain (ethyl) alcohol products with the most popular going under the name Everclear. Cost is ~$33 for a 750ml bottle here in Calgary. I believe Alberta and possibly Quebec are the only two provinces where you can buy this. Depends what you want it for, but beware rubbing alcohol sold in pharmacies. Rubbing alcohol in the form of ethanol (ethyl alcohol) contains a cocktail of noxious chemicals (i.e. is denatured) to prevent you drinking it. If you use it to preserve specimens, they will deteriorate in a matter of months (personal experience). Rubbing alcohol in the form of isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol) is usually sold in pure form (though diluted to some degree). However, isopropanol will not fix tissue as ethanol will, and preserved specimens will deteriorate.

http://www.science-is.com/ is a Calgary outfit that sells mostly to schools (the owner's wife is a schoolteacher), but they sell to individuals. I've bought chemicals from them. They list a 90.7% ethyl alcohol as 'Reagent Alcohol'. The other 9.3% would be a mix of isopropanol and methanol (methyl alcohol). These last two alcohols will 'denature' the ethyl alcohol and render it poisonous.

[charlie]

Rubbing alcohol in the form of isopropanol (isopropyl alcohol) is usually sold in pure form (though diluted to some degree). However, isopropanol will not fix tissue as ethanol will, and preserved specimens will deteriorate.

http://www.science-is.com/ is a Calgary outfit that sells mostly to schools (the owner's wife is a schoolteacher), but they sell to individuals. I've bought chemicals from them. They list a 90.7% ethyl alcohol as 'Reagent Alcohol'. The other 9.3% would be a mix of isopropanol and methanol (methyl alcohol). These last two alcohols will 'denature' the ethyl alcohol and render it poisonous.

Geez I drove 3 places to get 50%, 70% and 91% with specimen preservation in mind but it is all ispropanol. I must have missed that isopropanol was no good.

With regard to denaturing, it is a waste of perfectly good alcohol!