Fundamental Techniques

Abstract

What we do in a modern organic chemistry laboratory is serious business. While it can provide social benefit, basic scientific discoveries, and intellectual satisfaction, chemical experiment is not just fun, it can also be very hazardous, some experiments inherently so. Complacency is often observed by veterans and novices alike. One often forgets that chemistry is a potentially dangerous enterprise; a cavalier attitude often results in disastrous consequences. Therefore, extreme caution should be exercised at all time, especially when one handles large-scale reactions that are exothermic or when dealing with toxic chemicals. If a chemical splashes into your eyes, it could do serious and sometimes permanent damage to your vision. The most common forms of eye protection include safety glasses (with sideshields), goggles, and face shields. Prescription eye glasses are acceptable provided that the lenses are impact resistant and they are equipped with side shields. While at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Professor K. Barry Sharpless, the 2001 chemistry Nobel laureate, experienced an event that forever changed his life. Professor Sharpless normally wore his safety glasses, but one evening in 1970 he was examining a sealed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) tube without safety glasses. Unfortunately for Professor Sharpless, the tube exploded, spraying glass fragments into one of his eyes. The damage was so severe that he lost functional vision in the injured eye. Professor Sharpless’s own words summarize the importance of eye protection, “The lesson to be learned from my experience is straightforward: there’s simply never an adequate excuse for not wearing safety glasses in the laboratory at all times” (Scripps Research Institutes’ Environmental Health and Safety Department Safety Gram, 2000 (2nd quarter), www.scripps.edu/researchservices/ehs/ News/safetygram/). Laboratory gloves are an essential part of safe laboratory practice and must be worn while handling chemicals. Despite practicing good safety techniques, tragedy may still strike.