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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Hi Nate,</div>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">corrosive sublimate was a common "enhancer" to increase the preservative strength of ethanol; John probably covered this in his email already. </div>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Sublimate (mercury-II-chloride, Hg Cl2) was a common additive for the preservation invertebrates; see Piechocki, Makroskopische Präparationstechnik Wirbellose:
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="https://www.schweizerbart.de/publications/detail/isbn/9783510652310/Piechocki_Handel_Makroskopische_Prapara?l=EN">
https://www.schweizerbart.de/publications/detail/isbn/9783510652310/Piechocki_Handel_Makroskopische_Prapara?l=EN</a></div>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Joachim Händel noted on earlier posts here on NHColl dealing with mercury that a simple test would be to put a copper coin or copper wire into the fluid; in presence of sublimate, a silver mercury layer should form on the copper.
He might add if I am referring wrongly to his advise.<br>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Depending on the specimens, it might not be easy to remove the mercury completely; the easiest would be to carefully remove the specimens without disturbing too much of the mercury deposits, but for sure there is additional mercury/sublimate
in the specimens, which will be difficult to remove (especially in invertebrates).</div>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">At the second fluid preservation symposium in La Chaux-de-Fonds, Celine Stoffel, a colleague from the Natural History Collection in Lausanne, Switzerland, had an interesting approach to handle such an situation: knowing that she
cannot get rid of the contaminants, she marked the jar accordingly informing all potential people that might handle the specimen in the future that the preservation fluid is contaminated.</div>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Maybe this helps</div>
<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Dirk<br>
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<div class="moz-cite-prefix">Am 25.11.2024 um 17:27 schrieb Shoobs, Nate:</div>
<blockquote type="cite" cite="mid:DM5PR0102MB33973E56275D94FAC3EF29C8DC2E2@DM5PR0102MB3397.prod.exchangelabs.com">
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<p class="MsoNormal">Hey Tom, </p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The “floating around” was more of a casual figure of speech than a technical description. The beads were initially noticed adhering to the cotton cheesecloth bags which hold the soft bodies of individually numbered specimens, and upon shaking
the jar these droplets/beads fall to the bottom and coalesce. They are certainly denser than the surrounding ethanol.
</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">John Simmons sent me a copy of his article on mercury in wet specimens from the NHMW in Vienna [Collection Forum 2007; 22(1-2):32-36]. In that paper, the authors indicate that the only metal that would be liquid at slightly below room temperature
is mercury. The temp of one jar in our collection this morning is 20.1º C. At that temperature, gallium or a gallium alloy would be solid (though some reading suggests there are some gallium alloys that have lower melting points, I don’t have any reason to
think these would be present in the sample). </p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">The evidence from the preparator’s dissertation that mercuric chloride was used to prep the specimens in question points to the substance being mercury that fell out of solution. The questions are – what reaction took place, and what are
the potentially harmful products of that or subsequent reactions?</p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">-Nate</p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#333333;background:white">-<br>
</span><b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#BB0000;background:white">Nathaniel F. Shoobs, </span></b><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#333333;background:white">Curator of Mollusks</span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#BB0000;background:white">College of Arts & Sciences </span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#333333;background:white">Dept. of Evolution,
Ecology, and Organismal Biology, The Ohio State University<br>
Museum of Biological Diversity</span><o:p></o:p></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#333333;background:white">1315 Kinnear Rd, Columbus, OH 43212<br>
614-688-1342 (Office)<br>
<a href="http://mbd.osu.edu/" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="color:#0563C1">mbd.osu.edu</span></a></span><o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black">From:</span></b><span style="font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:black"> Nhcoll-l
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu">
<nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu></a> on behalf of Tom Schiøtte <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:tschioette@snm.ku.dk">
<tschioette@snm.ku.dk></a><br>
<b>Sent:</b> Monday, November 25, 2024 4:01:34 AM<br>
<b>To:</b> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu">
nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu</a> <a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu">
<nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu></a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> Re: [Nhcoll-l] Safely rehousing specimens contaminated with mercury / mystery Mercuric chloride reaction</span>
<o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"> <o:p></o:p></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt:.75pt"><span style="font-size:1.0pt;color:white;display:none">Hi Nate, I am no chemist, but I wonder about your initial statement that the silvery beads were ‘floating around in the alcohol’. Do you mean on the
bottom of the jar? Mercury weighs 13.</span><span style="font-size:1.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:white;display:none"> </span><span style="font-size:1.0pt;color:white;display:none">5 g/cm3. Best Tom Tom Schiøtte Collection manager,<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="mso-line-height-alt:.75pt"><span style="font-size:1.0pt;color:white;display:none"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
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<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Hi Nate,</span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">I am no chemist, but I wonder about your initial statement that the silvery beads were ‘floating around in the alcohol’. Do you mean on the bottom of the jar? Mercury weighs
13.5 g/cm3.</span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Best</span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Tom</span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Tom Schiøtte</span></b></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"> </span></b></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Collection manager, Echinodermata & Mollusca</span></b></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Natural History Museum of Denmark (Zoology)</span></b></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><b><span lang="DA" style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">Universitetsparken 15</span></b></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><b><span lang="DA" style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">DK 2100 Copenhagen OE</span></b></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><b><span lang="DA" style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"> </span></b></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><b><span lang="DA" style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D">+45 35 32 10 48</span></b></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><b><span lang="DA" style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"><a href="mailto:TSchioette@snm.ku.dk" moz-do-not-send="true"><span style="color:blue">TSchioette@snm.ku.dk</span></a></span></b></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="DA" style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="DA" style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
<p class="xmsonormal"><span lang="DA" style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif;color:#1F497D"> </span></p>
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<div style="border:none;border-top:solid #E1E1E1 1.0pt;padding:3.0pt 0in 0in 0in">
<p class="xmsonormal"><b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif">From:</span></b><span style="font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif"> Nhcoll-l
<a class="moz-txt-link-rfc2396E" href="mailto:nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu">
<nhcoll-l-bounces@mailman.yale.edu></a> <b>On Behalf Of </b>Shoobs, Nate<br>
<b>Sent:</b> 22. november 2024 20:30<br>
<b>To:</b> <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu">
nhcoll-l@mailman.yale.edu</a><br>
<b>Subject:</b> [Nhcoll-l] Safely rehousing specimens contaminated with mercury / mystery Mercuric chloride reaction</span></p>
</div>
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<p class="xmsonormal"> </p>
<p class="xmsonormal">A question for the chemists in the room:</p>
<p class="xmsonormal"> </p>
<p class="xmsonormal">In examining a jar of freshwater bivalves from our wet collection, a student and I noticed that there were small silvery beads floating around in the alcohol. Upon closer inspection, we realized that these beads were actually liquid –
to my eye, it looks and acts like elemental mercury (the droplets readily coalesce and break apart, are silvery white, and denser than the surrounding alcohol).</p>
<p class="xmsonormal"> </p>
<p class="xmsonormal">Here’s what we know about the contents of the jar:</p>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<li class="xmsonormal" style="mso-list:l2 level1 lfo3">I figured the fixative used on these specimens contained a mercury compound, and found this information, in the doctoral dissertation of the preparator of the sample:
<o:p></o:p></li></ul>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="circle">
<li class="xmsonormal" style="mso-list:l2 level2 lfo3">“ The entire body of each animal was fixed whole, usually in FSA fixative (40 g mercuric chloride, 50 ml glacial acetic acid, 200 ml. commercial formalin, 800 ml distilled water) (Movat, 1953). After 24
hours In this fixative, the soft parts were rinsed In tap water and dehydrated in 50%, 70%, and 80% ethanol. They were stored In 80% ethanol until needed.”<o:p></o:p>
</li></ul>
</ul>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<li class="xmsonormal" style="mso-list:l2 level1 lfo3">The specimens are currently, to the best of my knowledge, stored in a solution of “AGW”: (75% nondenatured ethanol, 3% glycerine, 22% distilled water).
<o:p></o:p></li><li class="xmsonormal" style="mso-list:l2 level1 lfo3">There is a metal tag, either steel or aluminum, in the jar, which is disintegrating, turning green, and forming many small grey tube-shaped tendrils of precipitate.
<o:p></o:p></li></ul>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="circle">
<li class="xmsonormal" style="mso-list:l2 level2 lfo3">The tag is not magnetic, but I don’t know if that’s because it has completely reacted, or because it is aluminum. I know that aluminum + water in the presence of ethanol tends to form Aluminum hydroxide,
but this precipitate does not appear to be. It was curatorial practice from 1960-2019 to include a metal embossed tag with the cat number in wet lots, but I abolished this practice because of the tendency of metal to react with the preservatives.
<o:p></o:p></li></ul>
</ul>
<ul style="margin-top:0in" type="disc">
<li class="xmsonormal" style="mso-list:l0 level1 lfo9">It seems evident that because there is free mercury in the jar, the mercuric chloride reacted with something in the jar. The green tinge in the alcohol makes me think that that reaction yielded some amount
of chlorine gas, as well.<o:p></o:p> </li></ul>
<p class="xmsolistparagraph"> </p>
<p class="xmsonormal">These are important voucher specimens, and ideally I’d like to figure out a way to safely rehouse them and keep them long term, but if there is no way to ensure they aren’t a health hazard going forward, I will contact our EHS department
to coordinate disposal. Does anyone have any experience with a situation like this?
</p>
<p class="xmsonormal"> </p>
<p class="xmsonormal">Obviously I am not opening the jars or letting anyone else near them until I can figure out what reaction(s) took place in the jar. And unfortunately, this is one jar of a few dozen 1~3 liter Le Parfait bail top jars prepared by this researcher.
</p>
<p class="xmsonormal"> </p>
<p class="xmsonormal">-Nate</p>
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<p class="xmsonormal"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif">--</span></p>
<p class="xmsolistparagraph" style="line-height:13.5pt;background:white"><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#333333"><img border="0" width="224" height="45" style="width:2.3333in;height:.4687in" id="x_Picture_x0020_1" src="cid:part1.UEW7dg3c.N8KyvVHa@leibniz-lib.de" alt="The Ohio State University" class=""></span><span style="font-size:9.0pt;font-family:"Arial",sans-serif;color:#333333"><br>
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