Lessons Learned from a Short-Term Exposure to DMF

Abstract

A personal experience with the health impact of laboratory exposure to dimethylformamide is described, and the lessons learned from this event are developed. These lessons involve all 4 elements of the RAMP process: hazard recognition, evaluation of the impact of a chemical exposure, selection and use of management strategies, and response to the incident. The goal of this paper is to convert my luck of recovering from a short-term exposure to a hazardous solvent into a group of Lessons Learned which can benefit the laboratory community.

Use of ionic liquids in amidation reactions for proteolysis targeting chimera synthesis

“…Indeed, their unique features, such as low volatility, non-flammability, good thermal and chemical stability, and the ability to dissolve both organic and inorganic compounds, 36,37 represent intriguing advantages over conventional organic volatile, flammable, and toxic solvents. [38][39][40] The high efficiency of ILs as solvents and/or catalysts for the direct amidation of carboxylic acid and amine has already been reported in the literature, arousing considerable interest. [41][42][43][44][45][46][47][48] Additionally, ILs have been extensively used in pharmaceutical fields as reaction media for the synthesis of pharmaceutical compounds, 36,49,50 including non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs 51 and antiviral, 52,53 antimicrobial, 54,55 antimalarial, 56 and antitumor agents.…”

Phosphate functionalized nonisocyanate polyurethanes with bio-origin, water solubility and biodegradability

“…The molecular weight of the resulting polymers was determined by size exclusion chromatography (SEC) in DMF using PMMA calibration, which showed number average molecular weight (M n ) values up to 7300 Da and 12 000 Da, respectively, and polydispersity (Đ) ranging between 1.77 and 1.80 (entries 1 and 2, Table 2). Considering the known toxicity of DMF 70,71 and the flammability and potential explosive peroxide formation of THF, we explored other solvent options. Solvents such as water, alcohols, esters, ketones, and carbonates were avoided due to their potential reactivity with the cyclic carbonate or diamine monomers.…”

Shifting Culture from Blame to Gain: Challenges and Encouragements

“…They review the lessons learned from the incident and describe the psychological effects on the researcher. Stuart similarly reflects on a short-term dimethylformamide (DMF) exposure and uses a r ecognize hazards, a ssess risks, m anage risks, p lan for emergencies (RAMP) framework as the lens to discuss the incident. Stuart breaks down the potential causes of this incident: the minimal safety information at the time of the exposure (ca.…”