10 April 2014

The "most dangerous chemical"


Three chemists suggest cyclopentyldienyl nickel nitrosyl, tert-Butyllithium, and sulfur trioxide, and explain why in this video.

4 comments:

  1. Michael MillerApril 10, 2014 at 3:45 PM

    Why on earth would you open an ampoule with a hammer??

    ReplyDelete
  2. nolanddaApril 10, 2014 at 7:28 PM

    My favorite source for insane chemistry stories is Derek Lowe's Things I Won't Work With section on his blog.
    They are very well and comically written. My favorite is probably "Dioxygen Difluoride" with "Sand Won't Save You This Time" coming in a close second.

    ReplyDelete
  3. AndyApril 11, 2014 at 12:13 AM

    I second nolannda's comment. Things I Won't Work With is definitely worth a read.

    These stories highlight the very real dangers of working in a chemistry lab. Very sadly, a researcher at UCLA died a couple of years ago when using tert-butyl lithium because no one had checked that she knew how to handle it.

    ReplyDelete