DCHAS-L Discussion List Archive

All,

I got the following two questions from a colleague and since I work in the 
art field, these are out of my area.  Can I get some help?

1.  a student was boiling ether in a large open flask on a stirrer hotplate 
and the fume alone caught on fire, inside the hood. .  Do you have suggestions 
for them to reduce the ether amount for re-crystallization in a safer manner? 

2. a student in was quenching butyl lithium with n-propanol in an open flask 
and it also caught on fire.  Is there a safer way to quench the butyl lithium 
w;ithout catching on fire?

Monona Rossol