SynopsisElucidation of mechanisms operative in thermal oxidative degradation of hexafluoropropene oxide derived polyethers and the effect of metals on these processes are reported. Thermal oxidative instability of a commercial fluid, at moderate temperatures (550'F), was found to be due to the presence of -3% of thermooxidatively unstable chains believed to be hydrogen terminakk treatment at 6 5 0 ' F in oxygen volatilized these chains by unzipping. The resultant fluid was unaffected by oxygen at 650'F and by M-50 and Ti(4A44Mn) alloys at 600'F in oxidizing atmospheres. M-50 alloy catalyzed the degradation of the hydrogen-terminated chains below and at 600'F, but after completion of this process did not affect the remainder of the fluid at these temperatures. A t 650'F a chain scission process promoted by the metals constituting the alloy, or their oxides or fluorides, came into play. Ti(4Al,4Mn) alloy in the presence of CF3COF and COFz species, formed via decomposition of the hydrogen-terminated chains, degraded poly(hexafluoropropene oxide) fluids at 550'F by chain scissions.

A greater awareness of the hazard of chemicals has faculty more concerned about their students' welfare. This is one of many factors contributing to the slow recognition of safety as a legitimate part of the chemical education curriculum.

Five phosphate esters - tri-p-tolyl phosphate, tributyl phosphate, tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl)phosphate, tris(2,3-dibromopropyl)phosphate, and tris(2-chloroethyl)phosphate- were subjected to thermal oxidative degradation in air at 370 degrees C. Degradation mechanisms were postulated and the toxic hazards assessed based on the volatiles produced. Tri-p-tolyl phosphate was found to undergo only minimal degradation; the other compounds were decomposed extensively. Butene was the main product formed on tributyl phosphate decomposition; hydrogen halides and halogenated C2- and C3- species were the main products formed by the halogenated phosphate ester. In the case of tris(1,3-dichloro-2-propyl)phosphate acrolein, not hydrogen chloride, presented the major toxic hazard.

Estimates suggest that the rate of injury in secondary school, college, and university laboratories is 10 to 50 times greater than is common in the chemical industry. It is not so surprising, therefore, to hear the safety manager of the research laboratories of a major chemical company saying, "We see the products of our colleges and universities as summer employees, as temporary employees, and as permanent employees. They range from undergraduate through postdoctoral levels. All have one thing in commonno conception of safety."There sentiments were confirmed in a November 1983 article in Chemical Engineering Progress in which Fiores reported on a survey of 200 engineers at a major company that "... only slightly more than a third felt their college education adequately prepared them to deal with safety issues they routinely faced on the job."Unfortunately, safety training does not take place in most science courses. Schools and colleges are notoriously poor in terms of safety performance. John R. Leach, head of the safety management program at the National Institutes of Health, observed, "The lack of safety consciousness on the part of many high school and university teachers is practically criminal. Because of their poor awareness of lab hazards, safety is, unfortunately, a very minor part of the instructional process."The scope of the problem extends beyond the school and college classrooms with a resultant costly impact on both industry and society. The graduating students take their poor habits to their first job where they, as new employees, are more likely to be hurt. Injuries to new employees account for 50-60% of all industrial injuries. They also take their bad habits into their homes as parents, exposing themselves and their children to the hazards of flammable and toxic solvents was well as unsecured medicines and household cleaners.

exemplified Culture and the Conservation Laws lllustroting elementary applications o f the basic tenets of ofomic theory ond thermodynamics to the problem of environmentol pollution and survivol o f the species Contribution by Professor Henry A. Bent North Carolina State UniversityMany-possibly most-of the larger problems of society (peace, poverty, prejudice, population, pollution) are closely related to the question: To what extent can we manipulate our environment-our physical, biological, and cultural environments? One finds part of the answer in the conservation principles of physical science.Most urban dwellers are aware, consciously or unconsciously, that what goes into a city (in trucks, trains, and planes) must go out (in the air, rivers, and barges), or pile up (in litter, private cans, and public dumps). There are no consumers of mass or energy, only converters.We may try to dispose of our waste beer cans, e.g., by burying them (thereby polluting, eventually, our ground water), or by burning them (if combustible, polluting our air), or by flushing them down the drain (if soluble, polluting our streams and rivers). Rut we cannot annihilate beer cans. "Burn up," "waste disposal," and "consumer economy" are misleading phrases.We may destroy the form but not the su6stance of our physical surroundings. In all chemical and physical transformations, matter, according to Dalton, is conserved, atom for atom.