Ora et Labora: Intoductio.

Caveat: [This entry does not claim to fully encompass all lab safety protocol according to OSHA, NIOSH, EPA, or any other government or academic institution. This blog entry is a list of recommendations for lab safety protocol, as the author remembers it from his experiences as a student of lab sciences at The Evergreen State college. Along these lines, the author does not claim to represent The Evergreen State College in any official capacity.]

In this entry, I will present a vast purview of information concerning basic laboratory procedures that should be of interest to the laboratory alchemist or the perfumer. Along these lines, the information I will impart will not be of a mystical nature. Instead, I will do my best to impart what I have learned from my own experiences both within Evergreen Lab Science Programs and at home.

1. Constructing a plan of action: Have a vision, construct a hypothesis (and possible controls, depending on the nature of the work), and design your project before you practice it. Do not let anyone convince you to run into your lab with intuition as your guide. There is nothing more tragic than seeing a good aspirant injure themselves in the name of spiritual discovery.

• Do background research. Make sure to research, not only in how-to manuals, but also journals which contain a discussion of the specific materials, methods, and results of the experiment in question. Look for any problems that are commonly noted in the journals. For example: steam injections are more efficient when run at lower temperatures with a low-flow-rate; an overabundance of water causes the polar fraction of the extract to be lost in the water layer. 

• Once you have done your background research, begin designing your procedure, making sure that you take note of all of the materials you need. It's usually a good idea to make sure that you have an excess of the materials you need, in case something goes wrong.


• The lab notebook should be a composition notebook (see legal section below). Be sure to write up your procedure along with a flowchart. All observations, procedures, and results should be kept in the lab notebook.

2. The aspirant needs to be aware of the properties of the materials they are working with: There are a wide variety of resources the aspirant can take advantage of. For certain labs, this will be legally mandated.  Lets assume that you are a perfumer, who has designed a soxhlet extraction procedure for lavender.

• Use a Merck Index (preferably 14 ed. or newer)*.  Under the entry "lavender" we find: Cinstit. volatile oil (1-3%), tanins, coumarin, umbelliferoneherniarin, flavonoids. Under the "Lavender Oil" entry, we find: Constit. complex mixture of components, chiefly linool (20-50%), linalyl acetate (30-40%), terpinen-4-ol, lavendulyl acetate, lavendulol.  The individual properties of each of these compounds can be looked up fairly easily.

• Material Data Safety Sheets (MSDS): Be sure to familiarize yourself with the MSDS for all of the compounds you're working with (including alcohol) and keep them on file--you only have to print them out once. MSDS sheets can be obtained from a wide variety of sources. The two primary sources I use are J.T. Baker (http://www.jtbaker.com/europe/msds/) and Sigma Aldrich (http://www.sigmaaldrich.com/safety-center/msds-search.html). Be sure to take note of HMIS ratings, along with the reactivity of each compound, and the safety equipment necessary (see lab safety below).


• Other toxicology sources may be insightful. Journals may be found on ToxNet (http://toxnet.nlm.nih.gov/index.html), Science Direct (http://www.sciencedirect.com/), Google Scholar, and The National Library of Medicine (http://www.nlm.nih.gov/). A great deal of new research is going into natural medicinals that could be of great use to you in your perfumery/alchemical endeavors. For example: "Lavender effects dopamine receptor expression in the olfactory bulb of mice" (Younghee Kim, et al. 2009).


• Online Databases. The two following sources will prove invaluable to you in your search from chemical structures and properties: Chem Spider (http://www.chemspider.com/), and Chem ID Advanced (http://chem.sis.nlm.nih.gov/chemidplus/).

3. Lab Safety: The Evergreen State College has a good lab safety manual (http://academic.evergreen.edu/groups/labstores/lab_safety_manual.pdf).

• Appropriate Glass: Be sure to use Borosilicate glass (e.g. brand names Pyrex, or Kymax, or LaBoy). Many of the safety measure listed below will be fruitless without the proper equipment.

• Ventilation: Make sure that you either have a new fume hood, or an open window close to your workbench. If you're working with Mercury or explosive metals (such as would be the case in alchemy) only use a new fume hood. Fume hoods are very expensive and hard to come by for a variety of reasons. Caution! Do NOT buy a used fume hood, unless it has been cleaned and re-certified up to NIH/NIOSH standards. 


• Wear Appropriate Gloves: leather, silk, cotton, or any other absorbent materials are not appropriate for handling organic materials. When dealing with hot flasks, always use the appropriate lab tongs. Latex is never an appropriate material, as many organic solvents (such as acetone) will readily dissolve latex. The Lab safety manual states, "[W]hen in doubt, polypropylene is proper."  Polypropylene, Nitrile, and PVC gloves work well for handling a variety of reagents. Be sure to look in the lab safety manual, or your MSDS for clues as to the correct gloves to wear. Wear your gloves as a second layer of skin. Do not think that the gloves serve as an indefinite protection against all harm. Do not wear your gloves outside your work area to prevent contamination of doorknobs, food, or other items.


• Eye glasses: make sure that you wear good goggles while you work. Most hardware store sell good polypropylene or PVC goggles that provide good splash protection.


• Lab Coat: cotton is always better. Cotton lab coats are incredibly more expensive, but the are more resistant to fire. The lab coat is great because, in the event of a spill, the lab coat can be readily torn off and thrown in a waste basket.

• Hygiene: a lab assistant at Evergreen once said, "[I]f you wash your hands before you go to the bathroom, you know you're a chemist." Most wise words for us as well. 
• Hair and dangleys: be sure to pull your hair back. Do not wear loose clothing.
• Spills: refer to your MSDS. Also, it is really nice to have a beaker of vinegar, or dilute sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) handy when dealing with strong acids and bases. 
• Dilutions: Alchemists deal with strong acids and bases quite frequently. MSDS sheets are your best friend. Make sure you look in an appropriate manual before preparing dilutions of substances such as Sulfuric Acid (Oil of Vitriol), as it can cause water to boil explosively. 
• Closed-toed shoes: be sure to wear close-toed shoes in case of a spill.  No sandals or tennis shoes. I wear polypropylene tipped shoes that I purchased for $20.00 at K-Mart. ;-)
• Fire Extinguisher: Use a type-2 chemical fire extinguisher, unless directed otherwise by the MSDS. 
• Phone: have a phone readily available, so that the fire dept. can be called if there is serious emergency.
• Try not to work alone: as an independent alchemist, it isn't always easy to work with a partner. That not withstanding, it should be something that the aspirant is ready to adopt, when the time is right. Above all, someone should be aware of what your activities are, so that in case of an emergency, you are not on your own.

 4. Legal: be sure that your equipment is legal and that you have all of the appropriate certifications for the work at hand. You may be surprised as to how easily some of these certifications can be obtained.

•  Research protection: The lab notebook serves as your virtual witness. If your experiences are properly recorded, the lab notebook stands as a legal escutcheon should anyone try to claim your work.  Its good to have each procedure signed and dated with a witness. Never rip any pages from the notebook, as this de-validates everything that is written therein. Instead, cross incorrect entry with a single strike through.

• Alcohol Distillation: this is illegal under federal law. However, a license can be obtained through the federal Dept. of Alcohol, tobacco, and Fire Arms for the purposes of fuel supplementation.

• Class 2 and 5 permits: I do not distill my own alcohol. What I do instead, is purchase a Class 2 permit from the Washington State Liquor Control Board. This allows me to purchase 5 gallons of 95% alcohol for the purposes of extracting odoriferous resins and for the preparation of tinctures. 


• Be sure that you're in compliance with the Controlled Substances Act. Simply because it is on sale on the internet does not make it legal. I'm not trying to harp on you. I'm merely saying that it would be sad to see a good aspirant do jail time or have to pay heavy fines for their pursuit of knowledge. Be aware of the Analogue Act. Analogues of controlled substances may, or may not be illegal.


• EPA regulations: please be sure that any emissions that you let off are minimal. Be sure to check both your MSDS sheet and the EPA website for proper disposal and handling of wastes, such as lead acetate.

Lab safety is not always the most exciting thing to read about on your weekend off from work. However, for some of us, the alchemy lab is just as much a part of our daily lives as taking a shower is. That being the case, it an sometimes be easy for us to get lost in the mysticism and the mos maiorum of the practice. 

*The Merck Index is a good source for technical abbreviations, such as mp, bp 760, and mol wt.

It is also a good reference for checking the validity of other people's research.

work cited:

-Younghee Kim, et al. Effect of lavender oil on motor function and dopamine receptor expression in the olfactory bulb of mice 2009 Department of Public Health, Keimyung University, Taegu 704-701, Republic of Korea)