Communications to the Editor
ICATIONSTOTHE EDITOR
hloromethyl) Ether Publication costs assisted bjt Polaroid Corporation
Sir: Recentlg B paper dealing with the hydrolysis of bis(chloromethyl) ether (bis-CME) appeared in this journal.' A ~ t h o u gwe~ find the chemistry described in this paper to ~ t ~ ~we) ~ are deeply concerned over be a c o n t r ~ ~to~science, the introductory paragraph obc this article. References are given documenting the cancer-causing properties of bisCBhE. It i s also stated that bis-CME is an impurity contained in the commonly used chloromethylating agent, chloromethyl methyl ether (CMME). Thus the inference is that CMME is only to be feared if bis-CME is present as an impurity. We wish LO point out that current regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) list both CMME ab well as bis-CME as carcinogens and very strict precautions are required when dealing with both of these compounds. 'I'he regulations state that although there is confusion in 13oine o f the testing due to the presence of bis-CME in C'MME, nonetheless purified CMME has also been shown to have carcinogenic potential in animais. We thus See1 that this latter reference and regulation should also have been given in the introductory paragraph of the paper.
Deaerated 3MP glass containing 1 m M Bph was y-irraa t 77 K. The concentrations of etdiated to 8 X 10z1eV (at 1550 nm) and biphenyl anions, Bph- (at 408 nm), were measured a t 77 K, using a Beckman DK-PA spectrophotometer. The measurements were done either by repetitive scanning of the complete spectrum of the sample from 2700 to 360 nm (case I) or at 30-min intervals (case 11). The results of these experiments for Bph- are shown in Figure la. In case I, growth of Bph- absorption is observed whereas in case I1 the Bph- concentration remains practically unchanged. When the irradiated sample i s kept in the dark for 30 min in a 77 K cell compartment and then again subjected to illumination for 30 min by a spectrophotometric lamp set a t 1000 nm, the growth of Bpb- i s again observed. No appreciable influence of such treatment on electron decay in pure 3MP glass has been observed. The results of the above experiments strongly suggest that after irradiation Bph reacts mainly with photobleached electrons. If so, the bleaching effect should be particularly im-
(1) J C Tow, L. 6 Westover, and L F Sonnabend, J Phys Chem., 78, 1096 (1974) ( 2 ) Fed Regrst , 39, ,1757 (1974)
Chemical Research Laboratories Polaroid Sorpor~tion Cambridge, Masa&usett.j 02 139
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Lloyd D Taylor* Myron S. Simon
Received July 17, 1974
nging of ~ ~ e ~ in~3-Methylpentane r ~ ~ n s Glass at
Sir: When molecules which can react with electrons to form stable negative ions are present in an organic matrix during irradiation, they scavenge the electrons in competition with physical trapping and neutralization. It has been found that after irradiation of such a system, the concentration of trapped electrons, et-, decreases and that of negative ions increa~es.l-~ Transfer of et- to biphenyl, Bph, in y "irradiated 3-methylpentane (3MP) glass, for example, has been observed lasing spectrophotometr i ~ l and - ~ pulse radiolye,is4x5techniques. We report here experiments which ]provide new information concerning these phenomena. The JOUrRaloi Physic& Chemistry, Vol. 78, No. 26, 1974
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Figure 1. (a) The dependence of Bph- concentration on time after y-irradiation of 3MP glass containing 1 m M Bph, 5-mm cell: (0)repetitive scanning of the complete spectrum (case I); (X) spectrophotometric analysis performed every 30 min (case 11). (b) [Bph-l-' as a function of [Bphl-' in 3MP glass at 77 K: the pulse radiolysis experiments, 5-mm cell, 4-nm monochromator bandwidth.
