Bedlasky
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Very toxic inorganic compounds
Hi.
I have an opportunity to get some inorganic compounds with interesting chemistry. But they are quite toxic. With some of them I have some experiences
from school, but I worked with them only few times.
Specifically I mean Hg(NO3)2, Cd(NO3)2, Pb(NO3)2 or PbO, Pb3O4, ZnUO2(CH3COO)4, Se or SeO2, Te or TeO2, (TlNO3 - but Tl chemistry isn't much
interesting in my opinion).
Cd and Pb aren't that toxic as rest of this compounds, with Cd nitrate I worked only once, but with Pb compounds several times.
With mercury nitrate I have also some experiences from analytical chemistry, but I worked only with dilute solutions.
Zinc uranyl acetate solution I once used for sodium test.
I also worked once with dilute solution of TlNO3.
With Se and Te compounds I never worked.
I am little worried about U, Se, Te and solid Hg compounds. Tellurium is only mildly toxic, but exposition to only trace amounts of it leads to
tellurium breath. Uranyl and Se compounds are very toxic - but how much? Is it comaparble with As or cyanide toxicity? Uranium is also radioactive.
238U is mostly alfa emitor and it's pretty stable radioisotope - is storing in glass bottle out of living space fine?
What safety precautions are needed for working with these chemicals? Is there anyone with experiences with these chemicals?
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Tsjerk
International Hazard
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Uranium in a glass bottle is fine, as you mentioned it is mostly a alpha emitter. If I were you I would buy the lot, as long as you don't open the
bottles they are not harmful... you can keep them closed until you know what to do with them.
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woelen
Super Administrator
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If you have a one-time opportunity to get these chemicals and you can afford them, grab them!
Even if you do not feel comfortable right now to work with them, you can store them without issue and use them lateron, when you have more experience
and have more equipment and a better lab space (e.g. in another house). Keep them in a tightly sealed bottle. You can always take a secondary plastic
bottle around the first one wrapped in paper if you fear accidental breaking of the first one. None of these compounds is volatile, so no need to
worry about fumes or vapors.
U-238 is an alpha emitter. In air, alpha particles can penetrate appr. 2.5 cm. In glass, paper, plastic and any other liquid or solid material, alpha
particles only penetrate a few tenths of mm. Besides that, the intensity of alpha emission is very low, keep in mind that the half life is 4.5 billion
years.
Se is quite toxic, but if you do not expose yourself to solutions and do not produce gaseous compounds of Se, the risk can be managed quite well. I
myself have done quite a few interesting experiments with Se, all of them at a test tube scale, all of them in aqueous solution. Easiest to work with
is SeO2, that simply dissolves in water, but you can also use Se, which dissolves easily in HNO3, but in the latter case, you produce bubbles of
NO/NO2, which could take with them small droplets of solution, which contain Se-compounds. That is something to take care of. I myself used test
tubes, with Se added to 65% HNO3 and loosely stoppered the test tubes with a ball of wadding or paper tissue. Any gas produced (NO + NO2) can easily
pass, any little droplets are absorbed by the wadding or paper tissue.
Te is not very toxic, but it can produce very nasty smells. Be careful with that when experimenting. The element is safest, it is very compact and
does not produce any dust or fumes. It, however, also is more difficult to use, it does not dissolve that easily. TeO2 easily can be dissolved in a
solution of NaOH or KOH to produce Na2TeO3 or K2TeO3 in solution.
The U and Hg-compounds must be handled with care in experiments. Again, you must be careful not to make any of these airborne. If you use solutions of
these and these solutions produce bubbles of gas, then use wadding or paper tissue to absorb the droplets, while allowing the gas to escape.
If your experimenting is confined to a kitchen or bathroom, then do not experiment with U, Hg, Pb, Cd and Tl-compounds. Se and Te could be used, but
only if you work very cleanly and are able to assure that no kitchen tools are contaminated with these.
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B(a)P
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I would grab everything you can afford. If you are worried about toxicity have a look at the toxicological profile for each of the compounds. ATSDR
has some great info on toxicity and exposure pathways. For some of the more obscure ones you might need to look up related compounds. With the
information you have there you should be able to come up with approaches to adequately protect yourself.
https://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/toxprofiledocs/index.html
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SWIM
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Even the ones you don't want to use may be traded for something you do want.
If it is hard to get, somebody will someday be glad to get it.
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DavidJR
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Huh, I had it in my mind that tellurium compounds would be more toxic than the corresponding selenium compounds. Apparently not.
https://sci-hub.tw/10.1080/00039896.1961.10663003
P.S. I wouldn't say thallium chemistry is boring...
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Bedlasky
International Hazard
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Location: Period 5, group 6
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Thanks for advices. This offer is limited to august, so I definitely take this opportunity.
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