coal
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Hg disposal accidental dimethyl mercury creation
I am somewhat scared by this. Perhaps I should have done more research beffore hand but my actions seemed reasonable at the time
2 containers of Hd waste from my attempts to grow HgI2 crystals.
The first containing HgI2, meths (the impure stuff with things in to make it taste nasty) acetone, NaOH and watter.
The second containing CH2I2, HgI2 and metalic Hg (added to remove iodine from decomposition of CH2I2, this has been done when its used for gravity
seperations)
what I did:
empty all of second container into the first, washing out solid residue.
Add a strip of Al to ptt metalic Hg (which worked)
pipett out CH2I2 lair
I am shit scared now, having read late into last night, at the possibility that I may have inadvertently created dimethyl mercury. Thus I feel like
an absolute retard and must ask your advice on what is the likleyhood of this having occurred. My main worries are :
a) H2 from Hg/Al amalgam somehow reducing methanol to something the Hg could react with.
b) CH2I2 somehow being converted to CH3I and reaction with Hg on my brightly sunlit bench. (http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=tWMLH7qOJiAC&pg=PA264... page 263 states this reaction)
what are the chances of this occurring?
Is there anything else I should/shouldn't do in order to NOT make this stuff
i'm giving up chemistry anyone want some chems? 
thanks
coal.
[Edited on 2-5-2008 by coal]
[Edited on 3-5-2008 by coal]
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Nicodem
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Don't panic!
And no, you did not create dimethyl mercury to any worthy extent, but that mixture is toxic nevertheless and so make sure to dispose of it properly
(using sulfur or whatever else needed). Do not contaminate your environment and yourself with concentrated mercury waste.
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coal
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thanks for the swift reply 
i was prepared for the toxicity of inorganic Hg (wearing gloves) but reading the horror stories of people dieing from uL doses of Me2Hg on gloved
hands gave me the willies
i'm assumeing 'any worthy extent' is far less than the ~1uL lethal dose
Coal
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MagicJigPipe
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Just don't splash it on yourself. Dispose of it very carefully. If you even think you might have made .1mg of Me2Hg then you shouldn't take any
chances even if the chances of exposure are next to nothing.
However, if you feel you must get rid of your Hg, you know where to dispose of it (in my mailbox).
"There must be no barriers to freedom of inquiry ... There is no place for dogma in science. The scientist is free, and must be free to ask any
question, to doubt any assertion, to seek for any evidence, to correct any errors. ... We know that the only way to avoid error is to detect it and
that the only way to detect it is to be free to inquire. And we know that as long as men are free to ask what they must, free to say what they think,
free to think what they will, freedom can never be lost, and science can never regress." -J. Robert Oppenheimer
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coal
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yeah. thing that got me worried about Me2Hg is that having made *any* equates to having it get into you unless your using laminated gloves and a fume
hood (neither of which i was, being prepared only or inorganic Hg hazards was using nitrile gloves in a shed with the door open and trying not to
breathe the CH2I2 fumes)
i have no reason to think i have made the stuff, i was certainly aiming not to and have now discounted all the reaction routes i can think of for it
having been produced i.e CH2I2 being very different from CH3I and there being bo obvious way one can turn into another,
the formation of 2,2-Dimethoxypropane (a methylating agent) from acetone and methanol requiring anhydrous acidic conditions, not the aqueous alkaline
ones i had,
any methanol that was reduced hy H2 would be reduced to methane.
its just the chance that i'm wrong, or have overlooked something...
wonder if i should have a blood test
think i'm going to give up on trying to ptt out the relativly small amount of Hg and just poor the whole mess onto kitty litter and despose of it
Coal
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stoichiometric_steve
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| Quote: | Originally posted by coal
just poor the whole mess onto kitty litter and despose of it |
dispose of it properly or you'll have your butt kicked big time
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coal
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stoichiometric_steve:
yes i realize that, apart from the fact i don't want to contaminate everywhere
thats why i was trying to separate out the Hg i the first place
anyway its now contained, along with all the beakers (they were old anyway) in sulphour and kitty litter in a large Tupperware container. not the
best but its all i had to hand. will despose of it properly when i find somewhere that takes toxic waste 
Coal
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ShadowWarrior4444
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I would like to bring the case of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karen_Wetterhahn to your attention, just in case. The salient part: Dimethyl Mercury can kill you several months
later, as can accumulation of mercury. It may be prudent to undergo a bit of preventative chealation therapy, perhaps self directed in small
amounts--just to make sure.
Alpha Lipoic Acid is available from most if not any nutrition suppliers, has +/- no adverse side-effects, can penetrate the blood brain barrier, and
is specifically indicated for use in treatment of mercury intoxication. As an added bonus, it is also an antioxidant that regenerates Vitamin C, and
has been indicated for use in anti-aging therapy. You really should have some around when working with mercury.
A note on Alpha Lipoic Acid(ALA): "Lipoic acid has not received approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration as a chelating agent and questions
remain about the possibility that lipoic acid may re-mobilize mercury from peripheral tissue into the central nervous system during administration."
That said, it likely wouldn’t worsen the micro-liters of death that Dimethyl Mercury is.
[Edited on 5-8-2008 by ShadowWarrior4444]
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Formatik
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Time to start munching on garlic (S-allylcysteine and other compounds in the garlic have metal-binding properties and also are free-radical
scavengers).
Chinese parsley a.k.a. cilantro, which in animal experiments has similar effects as the chelator meso-2,3-dimercaptosuccinic acid. Down this too.
DMSO (it's an excellant transporting agent so this will help get chelators throughout the entire body and it is used in chelation treatment for that
reason, but like garlic it will make you stink horrible. It's available as a roll-on, though rubbing in significant amounts onto a clean surface of
skin will work to get it into the system). You can read more about the pharmacology of DMSO here.
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coal
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ShadowWarrior4444: yeah that was the article that got me worried in the first place
interesting about the Lipoic Acid though i'll keep a lookout for that.
Schockwave:
amusingly when doing the original experiments i considered using DMSO as a solvent for the HgI2 but discounted on safety grounds, not wanting the Hg
evenly distributed through my system if i happened to spill any on me. i suppose it would make a good way to get chelators into the system though i'd
prefer to just eat the stuff if it comes to it
In any case i did have a blood test for Hg, so will know for certain soon
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not_important
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Omelets with cheese, shrimp or crab, onions, garlic, cilantro, mushrooms, tomatoes; green salad with yogurt based dressing, whole wheat or rye toast,
milk. Gets you plenty of sulfur compounds, a boost in zinc, copper, magnesium, calcium; all of which help fill some of the niches Hg(II) can fit
into.
I seriously doubt you could have made methyl mercury, though.
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