Bretherick’s Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards Sixth Edition Volume 1 AN INDEXED GUIDE TO PUBLISHED DATA Bretherick’s Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards Sixth Edition — Volume 1 Edited by PGUrben Akzo-Nobel Compiler MJPitt Department of Chemical Engineering University of Leeds Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP First published 1975 Second edition 1979 Reprinted 1979, 1981, 1984 Third edition 1985 Reprinted 1987, 1989 Fourth edition 1990 Fifth edition 1995 Sixth edition 1999 © Butterworth-Heinemann 1999 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any material form (including photocopying or storing in any medium by electronic means and whether or not transiently or incidentally to some other use of this publication) without the written permission of the copyright holder except in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 or under the terms of a licence issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency Ltd, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London, England W1P 9HE. Applications for the copyright owners written permission to reproduce any part of this publication should be addressed to the Publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A record for this title is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data A record for this title is available from the Library of Congress ISBN 0 7506 3605 X Typeset by Laser Words, Madras, India Printed and bound in Great Britain by Bath Press Foreword It is now commonplace to say that the growth of knowledge of every sort is exponential and that keeping abreast with it becomes more difficult every year. As a result research can often become re-search, discovering again what is already described somewhere in the literature, perhaps in a little-known journal or little- read book. In many fields the worst result is a waste of resources on repetitive work but when safety is concerned the lack of access to available knowledge can have tragic results. Those of us who have been working in the safety field for many years have seen the same accidents repeat themselves with distressing regularity. We welcome, therefore, every attempt to bring together scattered information on any aspect of safety and make it readily accessible. In preparing the first four editions of this book Leslie Bretherick, almost unaided, produced a masterly summary of available information on reactive chemicals and their reactions. It was a remarkable achievement for one man, especially when we remember that the earlier editions were prepared in his spare time! Now that he has retired a team of editors, led by Peter Urben, has carried on the good work. They have increased the length of this edition by adding data on about 200 new compounds in Part 1, making the total nearly 5000, and 30 new groups in Part 2, making the total about 650. Leslie’s high standard has been maintained. It is a tribute to Leslie that very little of the new information in the 5th and this edition is old stuff that he missed; almost all comes from new publications. The entries on new groups range from acrylates to yeast passing through drums, fumes, mists and pnictides on the way. Familiar accidents continue to occur and new entries have been added on well-known hazards, such as nitric acid and azides. In reviewing an earlier edition, I compared Leslie with those immortals, Beilstein and Perry, and said that he would become as well-known. Today I would go further and say that he has done more. He, and his successors, have not just made knowledge available but have saved lives and prevented injuries and damage and will continue to do so for many years. Knowledge is effective only if it is used. Many coffee table books and cookery books are used to decorate the living room and kitchen rather than add to our knowledge. Some engineers are known to buy books to impress their visitors or v perhaps with good intentions that are never fulfilled. As an author I don’t complain but I hope your copy of this book does not undergo this fate. Look up the entries on all the compounds and groups of compounds you use or are thinking of using (now, not after your accident). Also, look up the entries on substances you used in the past and think of what might have happened. The editors have done their bit; the publishers have done their bit by making the data available in book form and on CD-ROM. It is now up to you. As a bonus you will find the data fascinating to browse through, you will come across many facts that you never knew before, or had forgotten, and you will be amused by the deadpan humour of a few entries such as those on air, environmentalism, safety literature, sunspots and superiors. TREVOR KLETZ April 1999 vi Preface to the Sixth Edition Bretherick’s Handbook remains broadly similar to the previous editions but older readers will notice some changes. There are, of course, some hundreds of addi- tional entries and much supplementary information in existing entries. This is the second edition for which I have been responsible and readers will still regret the absence of Leslie Bretherick, who had to withdraw from compilation because of worsening sight but remains a support and stay. The bulk is still his work, which is an indication of his immense labours laying the foundations, when accidents were less often reported and databases harder to compile than they now are. The present editor and his assistants have a far easier task continuing the work. The change in the cyclic structures, now drawn in the more contemporary nota- tion for which Hampden Data Services are to be thanked continues. The book is also now available as an electronic database, with all the improved ease of searching for cross-references or related materials which that brings. In future, it is proposed to supplement this rather more frequently than the new editions of the book will appear. The present edition includes the literature until the end of 1998. There are few organisational changes from Leslie Bretherick’s model, although no new references to safety data sheets are given. There are ever proliferating series of these, it would be impossible to read all and invidious to distinguish some, while others appear to have been compiled by (mis)information (ne)scientists in the library rather than by chemists skilled and experienced in lab and plant. Once again, we request all users to inform us of any hazards of which they are aware and of which we are not, as also of any errors they find (regretfully, I must admit that some will certainly have escaped detection). Thanks are given to all those who have contributed to this and previous editions. I have been valiantly assisted in the compilation and evaluation of data by Dr Martin Pitt of the University of Sheffield. I am also indebted to the staff of Butterworth-Heinemann and Hampden Data Services for their ability to make my files manifest as book and database. My employers, Courtaulds plc, (recently subsumed into Akzo-Nobel) have gener- ously allowed me time to undertake this work which, while both yet existed, vii benefited greatly from their library and from the Courtaulds Library at the Univer- sity of Warwick. But, above all, thanks are due to Leslie Bretherick, not only for assistance and counsel but because, without him, the whole would be inconceivable. We again wish him a long and active (semi)retirement. P. URBEN March 1999 viii Preface to the First Edition Although I had been aware during most of my career as a preparative chemist of a general lack of information relevant to the reactive hazards associated with the use of chemicals, the realisation that this book needed to be compiled came soon after my reading Chemistry & Industry for June 6th, 1964. This issue contained an account of an unexpected laboratory explosion involving chromium trioxide and acetic anhydride, a combination which I knew to be extremely hazardous from close personal experience 16 years previously. This hazard had received wide publicity in the same journal in 1948, but during the intervening years had apparently lapsed into relative obscurity. It was then clear that currently existing arrangements for communicating ‘well-known’ reac- tive chemical hazards to practising chemists and students were largely inadequate. I resolved to try to meet this obvious need for a single source of information with a logically arranged compilation of available material. After a preliminary assessment of the overall problems involved, work began in late 1964. By late 1971, so much information had been uncovered but remained to be processed that it was apparent that the compilation would never be finished on the spare-time basis then being used. Fortunately I then gained the support of my employers, the British Petroleum Company, Ltd., and have now been able to complete this compilation as a supporting research objective since January 1972. The detailed form of presentation adopted has evolved steadily since 1964 to meet the dual needs for information on reactive chemical hazards in both specific and general terms, and the conflicting practical requirements of completeness and brevity. A comprehensive explanation of how this has been attempted, with sugges- tions on using this Handbook to best advantage, is given in the Introduction. In an attempt to widen the scope of this work, unpublished information has been sought from many sources, both by published appeals and correspondence. In this latter area, the contribution made by a friend, the late Mr A. Kruk-Schuster, of Laboratory Chemicals Disposal Company, Ltd., Billericay, has been outstanding. During 1965–1968 his literature work and global letter campaign to 2000 Univer- sity chemistry departments and industrial institutions yielded some 300 contribu- tions. ix The coverage attempted in this Handbook is wide, but is certainly incomplete because of the difficulties in retrieving relevant information from original literature when it does not appear in the indices of either primary or abstract journals. Details of such new material known to users of this Handbook and within the scope given in the Introduction will be welcomed for inclusion in supplementary or revised editions of this work. L.B October 1974 x Contents Volume 1 INTRODUCTION Aims of the Handbook xi Scope and Source Coverage xi General Arrangement xii Specific Chemical Entries (Volume 1) xiii Grouping of Reactants xiv General Group Entries (Volume 2) xv Nomenclature xv Cross-reference System xvii Information Content of Individual Entries xvii REACTIVE CHEMICAL HAZARDS Basics xix Kinetic Factors xix Adiabatic Systems xxii Reactivity vs. Composition and Structure xxii Reaction Mixtures xxiii Protective Measures xxiv SPECIFIC CHEMICALS (Elements and compounds arranged in formula order) xi [...]...APPENDIX 1 Source Title Abbreviations used in Handbook References APPENDIX 2 Tabulated Fire-related Data 19 37 APPENDIX 3 Glossary of Abbreviations and Technical Terms 19 47 APPENDIX 4 Index of Chemical Names and Serial Numbers used as Titles in Volume 1 19 51 APPENDIX 5 Index of CAS Registry Numbers and Text Serial Numbers xii 19 27 20 81 Introduction THIS SHOULD BE READ THROUGH... with in this Handbook Though some of the incidents have involved little or no damage (see CAN OF BEANS), others have involved personal injuries, often of unexpected severity (see SODIUM PRESS), and material damage is often immense For example, the incident given under Perchloric acid: Cellulose derivatives, (reference 1) involved damage to 11 6 buildings and a loss approaching $ 3M at 19 47 values The... the maximum of detailed knowledge before starting to use an unfamiliar chemical or reaction system xx Reactive Chemical Hazards CROSS REFERENCES IN CAPITALS REFER TO PAGE NUMBERS IN VOLUME 2 This introductory chapter seeks to present an overview of the complex subject of reactive chemical hazards, drawing attention to the underlying principles and to some practical aspects of minimising such hazards It... Aluminium Laing, M., J Chem Educ., 19 94, 71, 270 It is warned that a mixture of aluminium powder and silver nitrate is potentially as dangerous as that with magnesium, both being capable of producing >8 kJ/g See Magnesium, Water; below Ammonia MRH 1. 46/29 1 MCA Case History No 211 6 2 CISHC Chem Safety Summ., 19 76, 47, 31 3 MacWilliam, E A et al., Photogr Sci Eng., 19 77, 21, 2 21 224 A bottle containing Gomari... All reactive hazards involve the release of energy in quantities or at rates too high to be absorbed by the immediate environment of the reacting system, and material damage results The source of the energy may be an exothermic multicomponent reaction, or the exothermic decomposition of a single unstable (often endothermic) compound All measures to minimise the possibility of occurrence of reactive chemical. .. in Volume 2 may suggest other analogous possibilities of hazards References to original or abstract literature then follow, and sufficient of the relevant information content is given to allow a general picture of the nature and degree of hazard to be seen Two features relevant to entries for pairs of reactive chemicals arise from the work of Prof T Yoshida in developing a method for the calculation of. .. Fr., 19 45, 12 , 94–95 2 Pascal, 19 60, Vol 13 .1, 10 04 The bromate is a powerful oxidant, and unstable mixtures with sulfur ignite at 73–75° C, and with disulfur dibromide on contact [1] Hydrogen sulfide ignites on contact with the bromate [2] See other METAL OXOHALOGENATES, SILVER COMPOUNDS 0008 Silver chloride [7783-90-6] AgCl AgCl Aluminium See Aluminium: Silver chloride Ammonia 1 Mellor, 19 41, Vol 3,... A E et al., J Amer Chem Soc., 19 57, 79, 4324 Concentrated solutions of the perchlorate in 2-pentyne or 3-hexyne (complexes are formed) explode on contact with mercury See METAL ACETYLIDES Aromatic compounds MRH Aniline 3.47 /11 , toluene 3. 51/ 9 1 Sidgwick, 19 50, 12 34 2 Brinkley, S R., J Amer Chem Soc., 19 40, 62, 3524 3 Peone, J et al., Inorg Synth., 19 74, 15 , 69 4 Stull, 19 77, 22 Silver perchlorate forms... Potassium: Oxidants Sodium: Iodates MRH Potassium 1. 50/25, sodium 1. 92/35 Other reactants Yoshida, 19 80, 19 4 MRH values for 16 combinations with oxidisable materials are given Tellurium Pascal, 19 60, Vol 13 .2, 19 61 Interaction is violent See other METAL HALOGENATES, SILVER COMPOUNDS 00 21 Silver permanganate [7783-98-4] AgMnO4 AgMnO4 Sulfuric acid 491M, 19 75, 369 The moist salt exploded during drying over the... their respective separate volumes 1 and 2 FOR CROSS REFERENCES IN CAPITALS, PAGE NUMBERS REFER TO VOLUME 2 Specific information on instability of individual chemical compounds, and on hazardous interactions of elements and/or compounds, is contained in the main formula-based Volume 1 of the Handbook For an example of an unstable compound, see Ethyl perchlorate For an example of a hazardous interaction . Bretherick’s Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards Sixth Edition Volume 1 AN INDEXED GUIDE TO PUBLISHED DATA Bretherick’s Handbook of Reactive Chemical Hazards Sixth Edition — Volume 1 Edited by PGUrben Akzo-Nobel Compiler MJPitt Department. by PGUrben Akzo-Nobel Compiler MJPitt Department of Chemical Engineering University of Leeds Butterworth-Heinemann Ltd Linacre House, Jordan Hill, Oxford OX2 8DP First published 19 75 Second edition 19 79 Reprinted 19 79, 19 81, 19 84 Third. work. L.B October 19 74 x Contents Volume 1 INTRODUCTION Aims of the Handbook xi Scope and Source Coverage xi General Arrangement xii Specific Chemical Entries (Volume 1) xiii Grouping of Reactants