Clumsy Tuesday
Ok, so this last Tuestday we were to prepare standard samples for future analyses and so I was asked to add trimethylsilyl 2,2,2-trifluoro-N-trimethylsilylethanimidate, also referred to as BSTFA, to these tiny vials. Now I feel the need to point out that during my three years of studying chemistry and working in the lab I have never spilled any significant amout of chemicals, and so I guess the time had come - I accidentally turned over the bottle..
This amazing compound is very volatile and smells TERRIBLE. It was literally like a highly flammable, corrosive and toxic fart^3 spreading inside the whole lab. I could not do that much about it apart from wiping up the amount that did not evaporate, and of course: feel bad about it.
This event did eclipse one part of my day, but it was weighted up the great news that I got a surprisingly good grade on the exam I wrote a few weeks ago. Maybe there is still some hope of a bright future for this clumsy little chemical engineer anyway?
Only time will tell..