Abstract
Laboratories in research institutions use organic solvents in research and development. Nevertheless, the types of solvents in use have been seldom reported. This study was initiated to elucidate types of organic solvents used in large research institutions in Japan, with a focus on possible different use among research fields. In 2010-2011, 4517 laboratories in seven large research institutions were visited. In accordance with legal stipulations, air in each laboratory was collected in polyvinyl fluoride bags and analyzed by direct injection into a gas-chromatograph for 47 types of organic solvents. In evaluation, the laboratories were grouped by 5 research fields, i.e., agriculture, biology, medicine, natural science, and technology and engineering. Types of organic solvents commonly used in research activities were not diverse. Those commonly used were chloroform and 1,2-dichloroethane out of 7 Group 1 organic solvents (with high toxicities); 6 organic solvents, i.e., acetone and methyl alcohol in general, ethyl acetate, hexane and toluene in technology and engineering laboratories; and xylenes in medical fields out of 40 Group 2 organic solvents (with relatively low toxicities). Judging from solvent vapor concentrations, work environments in more than 99 % of laboratories were considered adequate. Nevertheless, use of chloroform in high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) resulted in inadequate environments in 30 laboratories (0.7 %). Organic solvents commonly used were not very diverse. Work environments in research laboratories were generally good, but the environment with use of chloroform in HPLC analysis remained yet to be improved.
Highlights
Under Industrial Safety and Health Law [1, 2], administrations of national and public research institutions in Japan are responsible for maintenance of healthy environment
When a total of 4517 laboratories were grouped by the five research fields of AGR, biological sciences (BIOL), MED, SCI and technology and engineering (T&E), the numbers of laboratories in MED, SCI and T&E were in excess of 1000, whereas those in AGR and BIOL were around 600 (Table 2)
The present survey disclosed that types of solvents commonly used in research laboratories appear to be not very diverse, being only 2 Group 1 solvents and a few Group 2 solvents
Summary
Under Industrial Safety and Health Law [1, 2], administrations of national and public research institutions (including universities) in Japan are responsible for maintenance of healthy environment. For this purpose, the law stipulates that the environment in workrooms including research laboratories should be monitored in accordance with procedures legally defined [3, 4]. Organic solvents are among the chemicals widely used in many laboratories across various fields of natural sciences. Efforts were made to identify characteristic (if any) solvent types subject to the fields of science.
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