Right so the Shake & Bake is essentially the famous Birch reduction, aka: aka: a classic 'cold cook', aka: the ammonia and lithium method. When this method mass proliferated across the U.S. circa 1996-1999, the source of anhydrous ammonia was tubing coming from an anhydrous ammonia tank, and passing through a calcium carbonate filter to keep the ammonia very dry. With the S&B, cold freezer packs containing ammonium nitrate are used instead to exploit the ammonia in the ammonium nitrate.
This could use some illustrations to help people picture what's meant and being explained here. Also, there are a few safety things to consider. 1.) using round-bottom, sodium borosilicate glass flasks with 24/40 (or 24/29) ground-glass joints is a superior set of glassware and this can be easily obtained from your favorite auction site or similar. Make a hobby out of amateur perfume and cologne making.
Or another notion is that, after the reaction has taken place and it begins to warm up, ammonia is going to become a gas as it approaches room temperature, and it expands quickly and gives off a telltale smell. Instead of this, keep the system sealed tight and vent it out of one single hose that terminates in a bucket containing dilute HCl acid or any other acid, really, as it will harmlessly produce ammonium hydrochloride, which is water-soluble and stays in the water rather than going up in the air. Hope this helps someone.
