Chemistry YouTube Videos – February 2010 Roundup

A student in a chicken suit gets tackled by organic chemistry lecturer Owen Priest at Northwestern University.

An excellent video on methane by the Periodic Table of Videos crew last month.
Safety Note: Samantha “Pants!” Tang is not wearing a lab coat, gloves, and her hair is not fully pulled back.

Also from the Periodic Table of Videos, Sam shows us the Traffic Lights reaction.
Safety Note: Sam does not wear gloves even while working with NaOH powder.
EH&S Note: Throws the solution down the sink.

Mitch

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Eating Carbon Nanotubes

Fathi Moussa

Lon Wilson

Last year I covered Khodakovskaya et al.’s paper regarding the benefits of growing tomatoes in carbon nanotubes (CNT).^[CB] At the time I was concerned with the potential health risks associated from eating carbon nanotubes, but today in ACS Nano my concerns are alleviated. A paper from Lon Wilson’s and Fathi Moussa’s research groups discusses the effects from administering oral doses of carbon nanotubes (concentrations as high as 1g of CNT per kg body weight) to Swiss mice.^{[ACS Nano]} The authors summarize their work the best.

CNT materials did not induce any abnormalities in the pathological examination. Thus, under these conditions, the lowest lethal dose (LD_Lo) is greater than 1000 mg/kg b.w. in Swiss mice.

So feel free to eat all the CNTs you want in lab, assuming they are not functionalized, you do it only once, and you limit yourself to single walled carbon nanotubes. I think partly because the results of the oral administration of CNTs went without any interesting side effects to present, the authors also looked into what happens when you inject CNTs into the peritoneal cavity of mice.

The image on the left is the control while the image on the right is 14 days after injecting mice with CNTs at a concentration of 1g CNT per kg of mouse. Although it looks sickly, the mice injected with the high concentration of CNTs did not die. Well…, not from the CNTs anyways.

Link to paper: In Vivo Behavior of Large Doses of Ultrashort and Full-Length Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes after Oral and Intraperitoneal Administration to Swiss Mice (ACS Nano)

Mitch

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Wisconsin-Madison Lab Fire

A graduate student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suffered burns and the loss of their favorite chair due to a fire that was started in the lab. A small lab fire usually wouldn’t make for interesting news, but see if you can spot something strange in the redacted narrative from the Madison Fire Department.

E4 found dry chem extinguisher activated, smoke, dry chem created haze on fire floor. found burned cushion chair in stairwell that was pushed there from room where reportedly students were working with chemicals that were spilled on to a chair that then started on fire. students came up with the idea to use a dry chem extinguisher as well as push the burning chair down the hallway to the stair well. It was reported to us that (deleted) was one of the students who was already at the UW hosp being treated for burns to his hand. E4 saw no one on the fire floor upon arrival.

The student took a burning item out of the laboratory and put it in the stairwell. A follow up revealed the student was worried about other chemicals in the lab catching on fire, but to the best of my knowledge most laboratories are designed to contain a lab fire. If the fire had gotten further out of control and caught the hallway and stairwell on fire, Madison might be missing a building today.

For future reference young graduate students the correct method for dealing with a burning chair in lab is the following. Rush to the safety shower and turn the flow of water on, then with a non-flammable object push the chair under the shower. Do not transport flaming objects outside the lab!

The chemical that started the fire was ethanol. Apparently the student was cleaning a pipette with an open flame nearby. As the student was shaking the pipette dry, a few drops of ethanol landed onto the chair and caught on fire.

The fire department received the call at 11:17 pm.

More media coverage: UW student burned in lab fire (The Cap Times)

Mitch

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Android Spectroscopy

I was jealous when I saw Joel write about his boss using his iPhone’s light source for experiments (finally, a really useful science iphone app). I knew I had to one-up him for no other reason then I am a Google Android user. Below is a video of an app I made; the app will scroll through the visible spectrum. In the video the glass contains red wine.

During the video you can see the wine absorbing blue light when the camera pans over the glass for the first time. Next time it pans over the red wine the light is green and still not transparent, but as the light was turning yellow the solution became more transparent. By the end, the light was red and it transmitted through the wine just fine.

If I had an other Android phone on hand I probably could have made a quick and dirty visible spectrometer.

Mitch

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This Message Will Self-Heal in 3, 2, 1…

Cassandra Fraser

Recently, Cassandra Fraser’s group reported on a very cool property, reversible mechanochromic luminescence, observed in an easy to make material.^[JACS] The molecule of interest is the difluoroboron complex of avobenzone (BF₂AVB), that UV absorbing molecule in your sunscreen minus the boron and fluorines.

In broad general language, mechanochromic luminescence describes the ability of some materials to change colors after scratching under UV light. The image below shows BF₂AVB coated on weighing paper (A), a cotton swab is used to write “Light” (B), the surface is hit with a heat-gun (C), the surface is ready to be written on again with a cotton swab (D).

The image brings up all kinds of creative ways to write secret messages, especially as the letters will fade over time even without using a heat gun. But before the CIA intelligence wonks in the audience get ahead of themselves the material doesn’t seem to be completely reversible at room temperature without annealing.

…even a small mechanical perturbation, such as a slight touch with the tip of a cotton swab, changed the green-blue BF2AVB film emission to yellow. The yellow emission gradually reverted back to green again at room temperature, with much faster recovery at elevated temperature. The written regions were no longer readable after annealing.

The field has, in short order, gotten tantalizingly close to a 100% reversible mechanochromic luminescent material at room temperature. Congrats!

Link to article: Polymorphism and Reversible Mechanochromic Luminescence for Solid-State Difluoroboron Avobenzone

Sam covered one of the first entrants to reversible mechanochromic luminescence a year ago: reversible mechanochromic luminescence is cool

Mitch

Update and Correction: Cassandra Fraser has corrected me, apparently the wording of the paper was just awkward to my ear, the material is fully reversible at room temperature!

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Geoengineering Scientists and Congress

(From Left to Right)
Dr. David Keith
Dr. Philip Rasch
Dr. Klaus Lackner
Dr. Robert Jackson

Geoengineering is a wonderful example of taboo science. Most people would fall within 2 camps. Camp 1 considers geoengineering with disdain as it mucks with the natural environment. Camp 2 probably wouldn’t want their government involved in planetary climate control. With those entrenched camps where do scientists fit in?

Scientists were called as witnesses before The House Subcommittee on Energy & Environment last week in regards to geoengineering. The witnesses invited were…

• Klaus Lackner (Geophysics,
  Earth and Environmental Engineering): Covering CO₂ sequestration
• Robert Jackson (Biology): Covering Biological and Land Strategies to lower CO₂
• Philip Rasch(Atmospheric Science but a chemist by training): Calling for a Manhattan project type approach to researching geoengineering
• David Keith (Chemical and Petroleum Engineering): Mainly advocating that some sort of global policy towards geoengineering needs to be developed. The most sane and coherent witness; scientists don’t usually fair well before politicians.

So why care about taboo science? The simple matter is that it would cost 1-2 billion a year to return the planet to pre-industrial levels of temperature, assuming they use cheap sulphates to do the job. This means any number of nations, frankly any wealthy cohort of industrialists, can take climate control into their own hands.

Since geoengineering is a delicate subject to broach to the public, transparency is crucial and wasn’t loss on the chairman Brian Baird (D-WA). Congressman Baird mentions how some citizens believe their government is placing psychotropic drugs in jet fuels, the so called chemtrails and remarked “…legitimate scientific research [in geoengineering] must not get tied up in these kind of things.”

However, all the scientists were taken aback by Randy Neugebauer (R-TX), my favorite exchange was the following.

Randy Neugebauer (R-TX)

Randy Neugebauer, “What percent of the atmosphere is CO₂?”
Scientist, “390 parts per million”.
Randy Neugebauer, “Less than one tenth of one percent…This tiny minuscule amount…[can't] be more important factor in our climate than solar activity”.

I’m not even sure where to begin to broach such a deep misunderstanding of climate change. I would have mentioned to Mr. Neugebauer that he would be dead if that minuscule amount of CO₂ was removed from the atmosphere, as all plants would die followed by animals in short order. The concept of small amounts having huge impacts in large dynamic systems is an important lesson to teach, even more so to do it dexterously. These types of exchanges went on for some time. I’m left wondering why Randy Neugebauer is even on the Subcommittee on Energy & Environment in the first place.

The ranking Republican, Bob Inglis (R-SC), had this to say in his last remarks, “I believe in a basic role of government is to do basic research, its an important function that we do.” It is nice to know that basic science research is appreciated by both sides, even though there is always a rogue member in every committee.

Press Release: Subcommittee Examines Geoengineering Strategies and Hazards

Mitch

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Chemical Journalism

For those with an interest in journalism and time this summer ACS is offering a summer internship in the C&EN newsroom. Deadline is Feb 22nd.

Chemical & Engineering News, the weekly newsmagazine of the American Chemical Society, seeks an intern for our Science/Technology/Education department for the summer of 2010.

C&EN reports current events in the chemical enterprise, including recent advances in research, education, industry, funding, and regulatory policy. C&EN reaches all 154,000 members of the ACS each week, and its online edition receives more than 13 million page views per year.

The candidate should be a highly motivated student or recent graduate with demonstrated interest in science writing and at least a bachelor’s degree in chemistry or a related field. The intern will have a chance to write bylined news and feature stories for publication in C&EN. We offer a $1500 monthly stipend for three months. The intern ideally will be based in our Washington, DC, headquarters; however, exceptional candidates unable to relocate may be considered. Starting and ending dates are flexible.

Contact Amanda Yarnell for more information about this year’s internship.

Link: C&EN Internships

Update: There is also an associate editor position available.

Mitch

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ARPA-E Gets a Congressional Hearing

(From L to R)
Dr. Arun Majumdar
Dr. Chuck Vest
Dr. Anthony Atti
Mr. John Denniston
Dr. John Pierce

ARPA-E is one of the newest funding programs at the Department of Energy. It was authorized in 2007 with the passage of the America COMPETES Act, but was only funded when The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 was passed with an initial $400 million. ARPA-E is unique in that its first Funding Opportunity Announcement (FOA) was kept broad and only asked for 8-page proposals for high-risk but high-reward “transformational” technologies. Yesterday (Wednesday) in the House Committee on Science and Technology ARPA-E was examined, the chairman for the hearing was Bart Gordon (D-TN).

Arun Majumdar, the current director for ARPA-E, gave several examples why federal funding is necessary for energy research and used a graph on worldwide shipments of solar photovoltaic cells to make his point that America is losing its edge in energy technologies.

Arun also gave some metrics on the ARPA-E awards. 3,700 concept papers were received. Only 340 were invited to write a full proposal. 37 projects were selected and $151 million was pegged for those projects. 45% went to small business, 35% went to educational institutions, and 20% to large industries. Also mentioned was the start of their Fellows Program for recent PhD students interested in energy/policy.

John Pierce, the vice president of DuPont Applied BioSciences, gave a statement that called for “external advisory panels” to guide the perspective of the ARPA-E agenda. Which sounds like something industry would want.

Link to more information on the hearing: Program to Foster Innovation in Energy Technologies Is Off to a Promising Start

Link to ARPA-E: Advanced Research Projects Agency – Energy

Mitch

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DuPont Phosgene Death

Carl Daniel Fish

Carl “Dan” Fish, a worker at the DuPont plant in Belle West Virginia, died this past Sunday due to phosgene exposure. Only scant details about the incident have been released by DuPont thus far, but this is what we have been told.

On Saturday afternoon a site employee was exposed to Phosgene from a leaking transfer hose. The hose was not in service when the leak occurred but did contain a small amount residual Phosgene from an earlier use. The employee was transported to the hospital by the Kanawha County Ambulance Authority for treatment and observation as part of the standard protocol for exposure to this material.

Unlike previous chemistry related deaths this has gotten the attention of Washington. Senator Rockefeller (D-WV) released a statement Monday, Rockefeller Statement on Incidents at DuPont Chemical Plant, calling for a thorough investigation of the incident. Since Rockefeller is the chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee, the committee with oversight of the facility, and being a senator from West Virginia Dupont can look forward to being under intense scrutiny.

Update 1: The senior senator from West Virginia, Robert Byrd (D-WV), has released his own statement: Byrd statement on incident at DuPont chemical plant

Update 2: It took DuPont 20 minutes to identify the chemical exposure to Metro 911 services after the initial call for an ambulance: DuPont calls: ‘Can you give me some more information?’
Audio Files: 1st Call from Dupont Advising Medical Emergency, Cpt Wallace Contacting Dupont for more info (The Charleston Gazette)

Update 3: The U.S. Chemical Safety Board voted to investigate the incident that caused a braided steel hose connected to a one-ton capacity phosgene tank to suddenly rupture. The lead investigator will be Johnnie Banks and the CSB team will arrive Tuesday at DuPont: Board Votes to Initiate Investigation on Accidents at DuPont Chemical Facility in Belle, West Virginia (CSB)

Update 4: Obituary

Update 5: From an anonymous source that I can not verify.

From what I’m told, he and another employee were walking by the tube when he heard it getting ready to bust and he shoved the other employee out of the way and he took the full brunt of it to the face and chest himself. I’m surprised they don’t mention those heroics in their statements. BTW, he was in his 50’s. He worked at that plant for 32 yrs.

Update 6: Senator Rockefeller called for a full CSB investigation into DuPont’s safety infrastructure and the facility’s compliance with emergency notification requirements to Metro 911 and federal agencies. In addition he asked for $1.6 million to create a new CSB team to alleviate the current workload and allow a concentrated effort for CSB to examine DuPont: Chemical Safety Board Must Have Resources To Review and Investigate All Current Cases Simultaneously (Press Release, Jan 27th 2010)

Update 7: “[During a briefing at a Charleston hotel] CSB lead investigator Johnnie Banks said the hose that sprayed phosgene onto Fish showed signs of “fraying” and “wear.” …another Kanawha Valley chemical company that uses phosgene, Bayer CropScience, utilizes only solid steel piping for transfers of the chemical. Banks described the hose as an 18-inch-long quarter-inch hose, with woven stainless steel on the outside and Teflon inside. It was damaged badly enough that investigators could see its Teflon lining through a small hole”. From: CSB: DuPont phosgene hose showed signs of ‘fraying’ (The Charleston Gazette, Jan 28th 2010)

Mitch (Our best thoughts from everyone at Chemistry Blog goes to his family and friends at this time)

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SPIE – San Francisco 2010: Day 2

SPIE an international society focused on all things light-based is having their big photonics conference in San Francisco this week. I had the opportunity to sit in the professional development speaker series and thought I would share some of the speakers’ insights.

Andrea Armani a 2nd year assistant professor at USC in chemical engineering spoke on Leading a Well-Adjusted Research Group. She stated that she gives her students Fridays off from their main research endeavor and allows them to tackle any question they want; which is a very new generation Google-esque approach to student mentoring. She also explicitly establishes that a particular older graduate student will mentor a younger graduate student in the lab, so that the younger student will always have someone to answer their questions. The most interesting story told was how she deftly managed to diffuse the amorous advances of a student, a very awkward position indeed, and a situation not covered in the manual.

Thomas Tongue gave a talk on Peaks and Pitfalls of Professional Communication, but it mainly focused on how to deliver what he calls The Elevator Pitch. He says that in scenarios where you would like to collaborate with an other scientist, or a scenario where you feel you could contribute to a team in the company if only you were placed on it, that you essentially have 60-90 s with that collaborator or vice-president to make your best pitch. The pitch has to be clear, compelling, conceptual (not bogged down in technical jargon), concrete (a specific quantifiable metric should be given), consistent (story should flow well), customized for the the target audience, and always given in a conversational tone. His advice is similar in nature to what Peggy Klaus advocates in her book The Art of Tooting Your Own Horn without Blowing It but she terms them brag-a-logs. Peggy Klaus’s book is a good read for those interested in professional development and especially for those that have problems vocalizing their contributions.

The chair of the session was Dirk Fabian from SPIE Student Services and I’m glad they were able to put together a good mix of speakers; as this type of information can be hard to extract from PIs.

Mitch

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