Stirring Bars from Paper Clips When carrying out small scale reactions one of the problems one is faced with is findingasuitable size stirring bar. Here we describe an inexpensive way t o obtain stirring hars from paper clips. A normal-sized paper clip can be straightened out and cut intothe required size using a i air of pliers. The cut pieces are then sealed i n a 1.5-1.8mmcapillary tube (which are normally used for spotting compounds on TLC). Using this method, we were able to obtain stirring hars which would even fit into a 5-mm NMR tube and which also can be easily retrieved using a larger magnetic bar.
Ratnasamy Somanathan Centro de Graduados e lnvestigacidn lnstituto Tecnoldgico de Tijuana Apdo Postal 1166 Tijuana, B.C.22000Mexico
526
Journal of Chemical Education
