Re: TMA leaks

Ariel Gaathon (arielg@gene.md.huji.ac.il)
Thu, 11 Feb 1999 15:10:18 +0200 (IST)

Sandy, Before we switched to use N-methylpiperidine with the Procise we
used TMA. We were able to get rid of the odor entirely by making sure we
have acid (we used, if my memory does not fail me, citric acid solution
but phosphoric acid should do) in the trap. The acid should keep the fumes
in solution. Very important to make sure the line releasing the gasses is
free and directed into a fume hood or, to the outside of the building.

We also found that the the bottles of TMA solution release some TMA in the
refrigerator. We successfully minimized stench in frige, by putting the
TMA bottles in closed box with paper wetted with citric acid solution.

Dr. Ariel Gaathon
Bletterman Laboratory Research Laboratory for Macromolecules
Interdepartmental Equipment Unit
The Hebrew University Medical School
Jerusalem, P. O. Box 12272, ISRAEL 91120
Tel. (+972)26758489, Fax. (+972)26414069

On Wed, 10 Feb 1999, Sandy Kielland wrote:

> Greetings ABRF'ers:
> Has anyone come up with a way to seal the joint around the tubing going
> into the acid trap on ABI protein sequencers? My lab constantly smells of
> TMA and this doesn't make me very popular with my coworkers.
> Is there any advantage to switching to a different base instead of TMA
> (other than the aroma)?
> Regards,
> Sandy Kielland
> Protein Chemistry Centre
> Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology
> University of Victoria
> CANADA
>
>