Chemical Risk Assessment Screening Tool of a Global Chemical Company.

BACKGROUND: This paper describes a simple-to-use and reliable screening tool called Critical Task Exposure Screening (CTES), developed by a chemical company. The tool assesses if the exposure to a chemical for a task is likely to be within acceptable levels. METHODS: CTES is a Microsoft Excel tool, where the inhalation risk score is calculated by relating the exposure estimate to the corresponding occupational exposure limit (OEL) or occupational exposure band (OEB). The inhalation exposure is estimated for tasks by preassigned ART1.5 activity classes and modifying factors. RESULTS: CTES requires few inputs. The toxicological data, including OELs, OEBs, and vapor pressure are read from a database. Once the substance is selected, the user specifies its concentration and then chooses the task description and its duration. CTES has three outputs that may trigger follow-up: (1) inhalation risk score; (2) identification of the skin hazard with the skin warnings for local and systemic adverse effects; and (3) status for carcinogenic, mutagenic, or reprotoxic effects. CONCLUSION: The tool provides an effective way to rapidly screen low-concern tasks, and quickly identifies certain tasks involving substances that will need further review with, nevertheless, the appropriate conservatism. This tool shows that the higher-tier ART1.5 inhalation exposure assessment model can be included effectively in a screening tool. After 2 years of worldwide extensive use within the company, CTES is well perceived by the users, including the shop floor management, and it fulfills its target of screening tool.

Highly hydrophilic copolymers of N,N-dimethylacrylamide, acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid, and ethylenedimethacrylate: nanoscale morphology in the swollen state and use as exotemplates for synthesis of nanostructured ferric oxide.

The polymer framework of water-swollen copolymers of N,N-dimethylacrylamide, acrylamido-2-methylpropanesulfonic acid, and ethylenedimethacrylate (nominal cross-linking degrees of 4, 8, and 20 mol %) is composed of highly expanded domains, with "pores" not less than 6 nm in diameter. When the 4% cross-linked copolymer (DAE 26-4) is swollen with a 10(-4) M solution of 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPOL) in water, MeOH, EtOH, or nBuOH, the molecules of the paramagnetic probe rotate rapidly (τ<1000 ps) and as fast as in the bulk liquid in the case of water. The swelling degree of DAE 26-4 is related to the Hansen solubility parameters of a number of liquids, including linear alcohols up to n-octanol. It is also found that the rotational correlation time of TEMPOL in the copolymer swollen by water and the lightest alcohols increases with decreasing specific absorbed volume. Time-domain NMR spectrometry of water-swollen DAE 26-4 shows that sorption of only 14% of the liquid required for its complete swelling is enough for full hydration of the polymer chains. Accordingly, in fully swollen DAE 26-4 the longitudinal relaxation time of water closely approaches the value of pure water. {(13)C} CP-MAS NMR on partially and fully water swollen samples of DAE 26-4 shows that swelling increases the mobility of the polymer chains, as clearly indicated by the narrowing of the best-resolved peaks. DAE 26-4 was used as an exotemplate for the synthesis of nanocomposites composed of the polymer and nanostructured Fe(2)O(3) through a series of ion-exchange/precipitation cycles. After the first cycle the nanoparticles are 3-4 nm in diameter, with practically unchanged size after subsequent cycles (up to five). In fact, the nanoparticle size never exceeded the diameter of the largest available pores. This suggests that the polymer framework controls the growth of the nanoparticles according to the template-controlled synthesis scheme. Selected-area electron diffraction, TEM, and high-resolution electron microscopy show that the nanostructured inorganic phase is composed of hematite.

Characterisation of solute mobility in hypercross-linked resins in solvents of different polarity: two promising supports for catalysis.

Two hypercross-linked resins stemming from a gel-type poly-chloromethylated styrene-divinylbenzene resin (GT) in beaded form are investigated with a combination of spectroscopic techniques (EPR and time-domain (TD)-NMR spectroscopy) to evaluate their use as supports for the development of operationally flexible heterogeneous metal catalysts, suitable to be employed in liquid and gas phase. The first resin (HGT) is the direct product of the hypercross-linking reaction, whereas the second one (HGS) is the sulphonated analogue of HGT obtained by exchanging approximately 3 wt % of the chloromethyl groups with sulphonic groups. HGT and HGS absorb both polar and apolar solvents in the permanent nanoporosity created by the hypercross-linking, and NMR data highlight that the pore size is not affected by the different properties of the investigated liquid media. The EPR analysis of the dry resins reveals that during the hypercross-linking process paramagnetic species are formed in the HGT beads, which persist in the sulphonated resin. The mobility of solutes inside the polymers framework was investigated with EPR spectroscopy upon soaking the resins with solutions of two spin probes (2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPO) and 4-hydroxy-2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-1-oxyl (TEMPOL)) in THF, toluene, n-heptane and water. The EPR spectra show that, depending on the solvent, the two resins can act as sorbents, able to trap the solutes in the polymer framework, or as simple supports that allow free diffusion of the solutes. Our results suggest that HGT and HGS are promising supporting materials for metal catalysts, provided one chooses carefully the solvent to be employed for the catalysed reaction as this choice strongly affects the mobility of the substrates and, thus their effective reactivity.

Gel-type polyacrylic resins cross-linked with trimethylolpropanetrimethacrylate: the issue of their nanostructure and molecular accessibility unveiled with a combination of inverse steric exclusion chromatography (ISEC), and ESR and CP-MAS 13C NMR spectroscopy.

Six gel-type functional resins, that is, three poly-DMAA-co-TMPTP (DMAA = N,N-dimethylacrylamide, TMPTP = trimethylolpropyltrimethacrylate) samples with different degrees of cross-linking (0.6, 1.2, 1.7 % mol) and three poly-DMAA-co-MA-co-TMPTP (MA = methacrylic acid, ca. 5.5 % mol) samples with 1.7, 3.5, and 7 % mol cross-linking were investigated with ISEC (inverse steric exclusion chromatography), and ESR and CP-MAS (cross polarization magic angle spinning) 13C NMR spectroscopy after swelling in water and other solvents. This unprecedented combination of conceptually independent physicochemical techniques provides a thorough overall consistent picture of the morphology of the resins on the nanometer scale and of the molecular accessibility of the swollen polymer framework to the paramagnetic probe TEMPONE (2,2,6,6-tetramethyl-4-oxo-1-oxypiperidine) and to selected solvents.