Rookie Mistakes - Quenching Reactions

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Verification:
MistakeCheck the mistakes you have madeNumber of rookies who have done this
While performing the reflux reactions, I forgot to switch on the Water circulator. 23
Quenched an acidic (or basic) rxn too fast 16
Partially disintegrated a metal spatula in a strongly acidic reaction mixture 9
Add Pd/C catalyst to an ongoing hydrogenation without removing the H2 first: fire!! 6
Degassed the reaction with methane instead of nitrogen 3
Dropped dry ice into a LiAlH4 reaction to "cool it down." 3
Didn't read the part of the instructions that said add concentrated sulfuric acid dropwise (read: SLOWLY). Had to leave lab for a few minutes while the acid cloud dispersed. 3
Poured what you thought was hexane over old Na metal prior to quench...turns out it's water. Giant jet of flame. 2
I forgot to switch off the distillation the weekend 2
Poured ice/water into beaker containing about 20 mL chlorosulphonic acid realized what I was doing and stopped. Beaker was blown apart 1
Added more than a drop of Conc H2SO4 to acetic anhydride and H2O2 mixture. Whole setup blew off. 1

Other Rookie Mistakes

Equipment Reagents Setup Quenching Rxns Workup Chromatography
Distillation Spectroscopy Cleaning Record-Keeping Accidents Miscellaneous