Daily Weird News Report
MIT temporarily closed the building housing its Department of Chemistry after a graduate student reported attempting to synthesize dimethylmercury, according to Boing Boing’s account of updates from MIT Emergency Management.
The student went to a local emergency room and reported the claimed synthesis. In response, hazardous-waste company Triumvirate Environmental cleaned surfaces overnight and disposed of items considered potentially contaminated. MIT then closed all of Building 18 on August 27 while possible contamination was addressed.
The institute recommended surveillance testing for people who had entered the laboratory the previous day. MIT Health also offered testing to anyone who had spent more than a few minutes in common rooms on the building’s second or fifth floors.
MIT later said the affected laboratory space had undergone the necessary decontamination procedures. After consulting industrial hygienists, MIT Health medical experts and outside specialists, the institute assessed that Building 18 was safe to reopen at 6 a.m. on August 31. A sealed suite in an impacted residence hall was also decontaminated, while the residence hall itself remained open.
The incident did not establish that dimethylmercury had actually been created. MIT’s August 29 update said the student’s first blood test showed no sign of mercury exposure and that emerging information had raised questions about whether the compound was synthesized.
Dimethylmercury is described as a colorless, highly toxic liquid. Boing Boing reported that less than 0.1 milliliter can be fatal and that the substance can pass through ordinary latex gloves. The outlet also cited a 1997 case in which a Dartmouth chemistry professor died 10 months after two drops penetrated her gloves.
MIT has since reopened the chemistry building following the cleanup and safety assessment.
