Use of Ether in the Fab

[Mary Tang]

Hi Ed, et al --

I believe John said that he heard another chemical involved in thie 
incident was sodium azide. 

Sodium azide is sort of like ether in that people take it for granted -- 
for example, you may use a lot of ether if you're working with lipids 
and self-assembling systems -- sodium azide is commonly added to 
solutions of DNA, for example, to prevent fungal and bacterial growth, 
and is often added just as a matter of course

http://www.bt.cdc.gov/agent/sodiumazide/basics/facts.asp.

I don't think that anyone would request this, but we might consider 
adding it to the list, because I do have some concern that someone might 
think it's pretty innocuous (and it is, in the concentrations used as a 
preservative) and decide to mix some up. 


Mary



Ed Myers wrote:

> All,
>
> SpecMat has decide to document a ban on the use of Ether in our fab.  
> This has been an unwritten rule and all request have been rejected.  
> In light of recent events, it was felt the ban on Ether should become 
> a written policy.  As far as we are aware we do not have any users who 
> are working with Ether.  If you happen to see Ether in use, please 
> inform the users and bring it to the attention of the SNF management.
>
> Regards,
>
>


-- 
Mary X. Tang, Ph.D.
Stanford Nanofabrication Facility
CIS Room 136, Mail Code 4070
Stanford, CA  94305
(650)723-9980
mtang at stanford.edu
http://snf.stanford.edu