Alcohols beware TBDMS-Cl is here!

Is there a better way to start our chem blog than to honour the late tenderbutton chem blog (That's Mr Stiles himself in the picture). Tenderbutton was the initiator for the present blog that aims to keep our brains busy by sharing chemistry related stuff.
Anyway, this post is about good old trusted TBDMS-Cl. You put it on and you take it off at your leisure just like underware. A very nice protection group that doesn't behave badly (most of the time). So just like all other synthetic organic chemists I keep coming back for a good time and every time my current supervisor has to bleed due to the high price of the stuff (2006 Aldrich catalogue price for 100 grams = 391 AU$). Somehow I managed to get through my PhD without using the stuff but now that I've grown up and moved away from home I'm using absolutely bucket loads of it. So what to do to save ones supervisor from financial ruin? Well Tenderbutton has the answer: Buy 1 kg from Oakwood Products in the US for next to nothing. Now I'm based in Adelaide, South Australia so it was obviously going to be a bit more complicated/expensive getting it down here. However, after negotiating with the Oakwood people for some time the final deal still makes it significantly cheaper to get from Oakwood despite the massive freight costs. A couple of days ago it arrived and mine is just as pretty as the one Tenderbutton got:
Nice innit? So how much does it cost to get a kilo of TBDMS-Cl sent to the middle of nowhere? Well the actual product only sets you back 353 AU$ which is pretty damn cheap. However, the freight expenses are a bit out of control and amount to 308 AU$ . So the total price is 661 AU$ meaning it's ~6 times cheaper than to buy it from Aldrich.

Interestingly, when I was looking at the invoices I couldn't help noticing how the courier had decided to describe the product:
Hmmm very interesting. I guess it makes it a lot easier to get it through customs if you very conveniently forget to mention that it's 1 kilo of a flammable and corrosive chemical substance. Moreover, I noticed that it hasn't been synthesised in the US as I naively assumed.

It seems that everything is made in China these days. Somewhat worryingly I think that my kids toys all smell a bit like TBDMS-Cl. I wonder if it's made in the same factory!
Anyway, anyone wanting to save a few bucks on their TBDMS-Cl get in touch with Oakwood and buy some. D!