From:
Kali Miller <kalim863**At_Symbol_Here**GMAIL.COM>
Subject:
Re: [DCHAS-L] Kitchen microwaves in experiments?
Date:
Jan 26, 2023 19:33 UTC
Reply-To:
ACS Division of Chemical Health and Safety <DCHAS-L**At_Symbol_Here**Princeton.EDU>
Message-ID:
<CAJQr37a1b7KNCmAEHbX-k=1bMeJx34Fp2=35YaTDQXOgbx8c1Q**At_Symbol_Here**mail.gmail.com>
In-Reply-To:
<37DA8BD7-D102-49B9-8BC8-129E3F84263C**At_Symbol_Here**uconn.edu>
Hi Jessica,
I've seen kitchen microwaves used for microwave-assisted catalysis for synthesis or degradation of molecules/polymers. In addition to heating efficiency and selectivity advantages of microwaves, there is an enhancement of chemical synthesis by the microwaves' electromagnetic wave energy. I believe the basic idea is similar to photochemistry, where there are specialized catalysts present where irradiation generates electron–hole pairs that generate free radicals, except it uses another form of electromagnetic radiation other than light. This paper might also provide some context:
https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ed069p938.
From what I've seen, proper labelling (i.e. no food and drink) is all that is needed. Microwaves would fall under the institution's radiation safety policies. However, properly operating ovens with intact doors and door seals do not produce excessive microwave leakage. So, EHS would probably survey microwave ovens upon request only. And consultation would only be helpful in cases where there are higher hazard reactions (polymerizations with runaway potential, explosion/fire potential).
Here are a few examples that I found. If there are policies written out, the guidelines tend to be fairly obvious (operate microwave ovens with doors open to avoid exposure to microwaves, don't place metal containers and metal-containing objects in a microwave, etc):
Best,
Kali
Kali A. Miller, Ph.D. (she/her)
Mobile / WhatsApp: +1-224-406-1714
Hello all,
I had a question come up from someone and wanted to get a perspective on this issue from the group here.
When I worked in 3 different molecular biology labs, we had a kitchen microwave available in the lab that we used in our work (it was labeled as “lab use only” so no one’s food was ever inside of it). From what I recall, we primarily used this to quickly heat up agarose for PCR gels - so I can’t think of any other uses off the top of my head.
From what I can recall, I have NEVER seen a kitchen microwave inside of a chemistry lab. Also, as a chemist, I personally wouldn’t even know what I would use a kitchen microwave for in a chemistry lab since the work I did required quite a bit of rather exacting control over temperature. Also, I worked with flammable liquids, so this just sounds dangerous (and pointless) to me to be putting that in a microwave. However, the person asking is thinking about it more in the context of educational demonstrations.
Does anyone here have some sort of policy in place at their institutions on the use of kitchen microwaves, either in educational demonstrations or in actual research labs?
Thanks!
Best,
Jessica A. Martin, Ph.D.
NSF Graduate Research Fellow (2018-2021)
Joint Safety Team, Founding Member (2018-2021)
Pinkhassik Group, Department of Chemistry (2016-2021)
University of Connecticut
323-327-3974
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