• Question: what is the most reactive substance you have ever worked with?

    Asked by Ten3ka to Andy, Chris, Harriet, Jess, Nikki on 14 Mar 2016.
    • Photo: Harriet Reid

      Harriet Reid answered on 14 Mar 2016:

      Hi
      tert-Butyllithium, It is pyrophoric, i.e. it catches fire on contact with air.
      Check it out https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tert-Butyllithium

      Its really nasty stuff.

    • Photo: Christopher Blanford

      Christopher Blanford answered on 14 Mar 2016:

      Hi again, Ten3ka

      I’ve got two:
      – silane, which catches fire in air (like Harriet’s compound), then rains down sand.
      – hydrofluoric acid, which etches glass, dissolves bone and can stop your heart.

      Chris

    • Photo: andy chapman

      andy chapman answered on 14 Mar 2016:

      Yeah tButyl lithium is up there for me. I had to isolate it once as a solid and sublime it to purify it. Very dangerous stuff.

    • Photo: Nikki D'Arcy

      Nikki D'Arcy answered on 14 Mar 2016:

      As a biologist, we don’t work with too many volatile chemicals. I have worked with radiation before. I do work with a fair few poisons ad things that can cause mutations (X-Men, here I come) but nothing very reactive!

    • Photo: Jessica Groppi

      Jessica Groppi answered on 14 Mar 2016:

      Hi!

      t-butyl lithium for me too. It’s so reactive that reactions have to be run at really low temperatures ( less than -70°C) in order to slow them down and being able to control the formation of the right molecules. Also it reacts really strongly with water and it can cause fire and explosions.

      Jess.

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