Categories: Organic Chemistry >> Synthesis >> Safety, Toxicology

Wiley Guide to Chemical Incompatibilities

Description

The authoritative resource on dangerous chemical interactions now enlarged, revised, and even more useful.

The term "incompatibilities" describes a wide range of chemical reactions that produce undesirable results in noncontrolled situations: the generation of toxic gases, fire, explosions, corrosive activity, polymerization, ruptured containers, creation of more dangerous compounds, and the like. A portable and easy-to-use reference on reactive substances commonly found in commerce, the Wiley Guide to Chemical Incompatibilities, Third Edition compiles hard-to-find data on over 11,000 chemical compounds, providing chemists, technicians, and engineers a thorough, lightning-quick resource to use during experimental preparation and in the event of an emergency.

More than a revision of the previous edition, this Third Edition has been rewritten and expanded to broaden coverage and improve its usefulness. It contains nearly 9,000 chemical incompatibility profiles and nearly 250 new entries, covering flammability, violent and explosive binary reactions, incompatibilities, and reactions that may result from physical change. Alphabetical organization provides concise incompatibility profiles for thousands of commonly used commercial chemicals, allowing readers to look up a given substance and instantly learn whether it is incompatible with common materials, other chemical substances, structural materials, or personal protective equipment.

With thousands of new entries and easy-to-use organization, the Third Edition of the Wiley Guide to Chemical Incompatibilities remains a handy resource for all safety, first-response, and plant management professionals responsible for the handling, storage, and conveyance of chemical materials.

Editorial Review

Safety information and data sheets for chemicals are easily searchable on the internet. Thus, a work such as the Wiley Guide appears outmoded at first glance, while a second look shows it to contain concise and accurate descriptions for over 3000 chemicals.

The focus is on the undesirable reactions of binary mixtures, and less on the health aspects. The first and foremost side reaction is flammability, which is treated in detail for each chemical, including specific values for the flash point and ignition temperature. This is followed by advice on which mixtures with other chemicals or chemical groups should be avoided, and in a few cases, which specific side reactions to expect. The descriptions are rounded out by the inclusion of firefighting methods.

The strengths of the book are its focus on the most important chemicals such as solvents, frequently used reagents and important starting materials, with the result that descriptions are available for the vast majority of chemicals used in most reactions. The provision of synonyms and the corresponding names in Spanish, French and German, with cross-references, removes some of the problems with chemical names such as when one has only the name in Spanish to go on, or when an unfamiliar trivial name is used.

Explanations of technical terms are found at the end of the book. Thus, expressions such as “alkene” and “autoignition temperature” are explained in language that can be understood by an educated layperson. This means that when readers learn that a certain chemical should not be combined with “glycols”, yet are unsure what “glycols” are, they can have a look at the brief explanation at the end of the book.

With a little practice, the Wiley Guide is quite useful and contains a multitude of descriptions that are of uniform quality throughout. By contrast, an MSDS will contain different information that depends on the manufacturer and concentrates on health aspects, while the hallmark of the Wiley Guide is the descriptions of which mixtures with other chemical should be avoided. The result is that the information from the Wiley Guide can be considered as complementary to that in an MSDS.

In research and development, where one might need to know a solvent’s incompatibilities before trying out a reaction, or even in the technical realm - to see if it will react to cause a fire - this book will prove invaluable..

Contents

Introduction.
How to Use this Book.
Key to Abbreviations, Symbols, and Acronyms.
Chemicals and their Incompatibilities in Alphabetical Order.
Glossary.
Bibliography.

New for the Third Edition:

• Chemicals that have the potential to cause disasters
• Chemical formulas and autoignition temperatures
• More flash points, as well as molecular formulas, lower and upper explosive limits, autoignition temperatures, and NFPA-type (Red) numerical fire codes
• Safety reminders
• All entries keyed by CAS numbers to eliminate possible confusion among synonyms
• Spanish-, French-, and German-language entries for international use
• Revised glossary helps users who may not be chemists with general chemical terms