Small-scale production, safety measures

Scientists, like other workers, have learned that they can do only so much to protect themselves but at some point the cost in time and in dollars can become too much for the sometimes small additional reduction in risk. Thus, a research chemist will likely scale up a reaction rather than do lots of smaller, safer reactions to acquire the amount of product needed because the cost of the additional work to carry out many smaller, but safer reactions becomes too costly. Similarly, sometimes under the pressure of timelines or competition (yes, there is competition in academia too), safety measures may be bypassed to save time and beat the competition. Consider the adage, time equals money. In this way the laboratory researcher is carrying out a cost-benefit analysis and arriving at the conclusion that the extra cost of safety is not worth the benefit. While there can be some compromise between the cost of reducing risks and the resulting benefits, it is important that the chemist understands that reducing the cost in this way increases the risks of adverse incidents and puts everyone in the lab at greater risk. 

Meanwhile, also methods have been developed using syngas surrogates such as formaldehyde, paraformaldehyde, or CO2 (see Chapter 3) [209]. Generally, these methods are easier to operate on a small scale, since the special safety measures that are necessary for working with toxic CO can be avoided. Moreover, alternative metals have been suggested that may also be useful for the production of fragrances [210]. 

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