August 1947 UBRARY_ j,T-240 
 
 STATE PLANT BOARQ 
 
 United States Department of Agriculture 
 
 Agricultural Research Administration 
 
 Bureau of Entomology and Plant Qiuarcmtine 
 
 A STSTXM POH STORING ORGANIC CHEMICALS 
 
 By S. I. Gertler and Milton S. Schechter 
 Division of Insecticide Investigations 
 
 In every laboratory where considerable work with organic synthetic 
 chemicals is carried on, it becomes necessary to maintain a large stock 
 of organic chemicals. The storing and arranging of many bottles of vary- 
 ing sizes in a limited space often present a problem when a general stock 
 of chemicals is arranged in alphabetical order. Some of them may be dis- 
 placed, and bottles of the sane chemical may be scattered among several 
 laboratories of any organization. 
 
 Several years ago the writers devised a system of storing chemicals 
 that made them easy to find, economized on space, and allowed for ex- 
 pansion. As the system has been used successfully for several years, it 
 appears to be worthy of description. 
 
 The arrangement consists in placing all bottles of approximately the 
 same size together and, for the sake of convenience, in keeping liquids 
 on separate shelves from the solids. The cabinets are of steel with mov- 
 able shelves, which are adjusted to give JTist enough room for removing 
 bottles of a certain size and height, thus using all available space to 
 maximum advantage. 
 
 The bottles are arranged on the shelves without regard to order. 
 They are placed in rows one behind the other as far as the depth of the 
 shelves will allow. The niunber of bottles in a row varies from two or 
 three to as many as ten, depending upon the size. With the bottles of 
 2-ounce size or smaller it is advisable to separate the rows with strips 
 of cardboard about I-I/2 inches high and cut to the depth of the shelf. 
 This keeps the bottles from sliding out of place. When a shelf is not 
 completely filled by bottles of one size, the remaining space is left 
 vacant to allow for storing new bottles of this size. Thus the system 
 is flexible, since new shelves may be added when necessary. 
 
 It has been found impractical to store extra-large containers of 
 chemicals in the cabinets. A separate store room is set aside for them, 
 with a number of wooden shelves built to conform to the various sized 
 containers, \^hich are arranged in the same way as the small bottles. It 
 is advisable to store volatile acidic compound^ such as acid chlorides, 
 in separate cabinets from volatile basic compounds, such as amines, to 
 avoid coating the shelves with reaction products. All sealed glass am- 
 poules are also stored together. 
 
 As a means of identifying the bottles so that they can be found 
 quickly, each shelf is marked by a letter of the alphabet, starting with 
 lAUG 2 5 1947 
 
-2- 
 
 A at the top and going doim. A small giunmed label is attached to each 
 bottle under the regular name label. Each bottle on a shelf is numbered, 
 starting with the first bottle in the first row on the left, going from 
 front to back, and then continuing on to the next row. For exeimple, the 
 bottles on shelf A are labeled Al, A2, A3, etc., those on shelf B, Bl, B2, 
 B3, etc. Since there are more shelves than there are letters in the alpha- 
 bet, after the Z shelf is reached, the alphabet is repeated but the numbers 
 are put before the letters — lA, 2A, 3A, etc. If more shelves are needed 
 the letters can be doubled — AAl, AA2, etc. 
 
 An alphabetical card index is used to find any chemical on the shelf. 
 For this purpose plain white 3 3C 5 cards are used. The workability of 
 this system hinges on the care with which these cards are prepared and 
 how they are arranged, since no chemical can be found without consulting 
 them. In order to make certain that no bottle was missed, the cards 
 originally were typed in the order that the bottles were on the shelves, 
 starting from AX and going through the entire series* 
 
 In every case the name of the chemical is copied exactly as on the 
 label. In using the index, consideration should be given to possible 
 variations in naming compounds. Cross-index cards are made when bottles 
 of the same compound are labeled differently. Vfhere there are a nimber 
 of bottles of the same chemical, all are listed on one card. Isomers, 
 such as ortho, meta, and para, normal and Iso, and salts of a parent 
 substance are also listed on the same card. In this way the index is not 
 too bulky and permits rapid estimation of the approximate amount of any 
 chemical on hand. A typical index card is shown herewith. 
 
 o^AMINOPHMOL 
 
 
 
 
 
 C9 
 
 oxalate 
 
 H37 
 
 H51 
 
 V23 
 
 BS2 
 
 TJ35 
 
 6V 
 
 
 
 
 
 ou 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Cll6 
 
 1^1 
 
 D7^ 
 
 
 
 
 P- 
 
 
 
 HCl 
 
 HCl 
 
 HCl 
 
 ClO 
 
 Ch8 
 
 726 
 
 A2 
 
 22B 
 
 IT35 
 
-3- 
 
 The name of the compound, in this case o-aminophenol , is typed at the 
 top of the card. Directly underneath, the numbers of all "bottles contain- 
 ing this compound are listed across the card from left to right. Thus, 
 the card indicates that there were seven "bottles of £-aminophenol and one 
 of the oxalate. The bottles of each isomer are listed similarly on the 
 same card. Salts of the compounds are indicated by writing HCl, EgSO^., 
 oxalate, etc., directly above the numbers of the bottles concerned. 
 
 To determine whether £-aminophenol, for example, is available, the 
 alphabetical index is consulted. It vould show that there are seven 
 bottles of the compound in stock, in the places on the shelves represented 
 by the numbers. When a chemist removes a bottle from the shelf, he places 
 his. initials in pencil in the space directly under the ntimber of the 
 bottle he takes out. When he finishes using the chemical, he replaces it 
 in its correct place on the shelf and erases his initials from the card. 
 
 It is advisable for one person to maintain the system and order the 
 chemicals; otherwise It is difficult to keep an accurate check on the 
 stock. 
 
 When a chemist uses up a chemical, he returns the empty bottle to the 
 person in charge. The number on the bottle is crossed off the card and 
 placed on a separate list, so that when another chemical is obtained in a 
 "bottle of the same size the number and the space on the shelf can be used 
 over again. 
 
 This system also can be used to advantage in filing away vials con- 
 taining small quantities of compounds prepared in the laboratory. For 
 this purpose filing-cabinet sections containing a number of drawers about 
 I-I/2 inches deep (so-called "legal sections") are very useful. In each 
 drawer vials of one size are arranged lying down in rows, and each row Is 
 separated from the next by a strip of cardboard to prevent the vials from 
 slipping when the drawer is opened. Each drawer and vial is given a code 
 number similar to those on the bottles on the shelves, and an index card 
 is prepared for each compound. 
 
 The system has been found to be very flexible. It can be expanded 
 to meet the requirements of any laboratory and will save the chemist a 
 considerable amount of time in hunting for chemicals. The laboratory 
 that uses a large variety of chemicals can also effect a worthwhile sav- 
 ing by avoiding duplication of chemicals suid purchase of unnecessary 
 quantities of perishable compounds. 
 
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