Dextrin

Dextrin is a yellow to golden-brown powder with a very good smell (but not a good taste, just tastes dry and chalky). Thought it is really only used for pyrotechnics, it still is an organic chemical so I had to place it in the organic chemistry section. When mixed with water it forms a very sticky yellow substance. In pyrotechnics, it acts as a water soluble binder (hence the stickyness) and will burn with the composition. Though, in large ammounts it will act as a flame retardant. Its synthesis is extremely easy, just throw corn starch in an oven and leave it.

 

Materials	Equipment
Corn Starch	Oven (or similar device)
	Cookie pan
	Aluminum foil
	stirring device

This whole synthesis can be summed up in one sentence:

Put some cornstarch on a baking sheet then bake at 400F until light golden brown. Here is my synthesis:

Line a 15" by 10" cookie sheet with aluminum foil. Set the oven (or similar device) to 400F (205C) and let it warm up. Into the lined cookie sheet, pour 1 pound of dry corn starch (they sell it in 1 pound boxes). When the oven warms up, place the cookie sheet in there and set your timer for 4 hours. Every 30 minutes, open the oven (watch out for the blast of 400 degree air) and stir it up a little bit. You will see some steam coming off and the stuff will have a slightly different appearance. If the starch has a light golden brown within 3.5 hours, then take it out. Otherwise, keep it in there until the 4 hours are up. If it does not have this golden brown color yet, then add another 30 minutes to the total time. Remember that ammount of time, as it could be specific to your oven (if the temp sensor is off). After the dextrin is done, take it out of the oven and set it on a table (with hot pads underneath it) as it cools. After it is cool, place it in a watertight container. I store mine in empty canisters that usually holds about 5lbs of potassium nitrate from skylighter.