STANDA
ARD OPER
RATING P
PROCED
DURE
Carre of Scie
entific Glassware
e
G
Glassware may seem m like an unnimportant and mund ane topic, but using it and caring for it
p
properly cann improve laboratory safety
s and make
m the d
difference b
between expperimental success
a
and failure. Glassware
e can also be
b expensiv ve to routin
nely replace
e, so handle
e it with care and it
w
will reward you
y with a long and us seful lab life
e.

G
General Ha
andling

 Alwaays inspect glassware before use e for chips,, cracks, orr scratches. Discard d defective
glasssware (and d used Pas steur pipets
s) in a boxx intended for broken n glass, no ot in the
regular trash. If I the glass sware is particularly
p expensivee or custom m-made, it can be
repaired with firre-polishing
g by a propeerly trained individual.
 Neve er allow glassware to t have prrolonged ccontact with h metal orr grit. Use e plastic
spatuulas, stirring
g rods, and
d rubber policemen.
 Re-ggrease glas ss stoppers s and stoppcocks freq quently. Th his will pre event stickking and
breakage. Do not grease Teflon
T stopc
cocks.
 If youu need to heat
h glasswware or quartz ware, yo ou must firsst triple-rinsse it in deio
onized or
distilled water after cleaning and drry it thorou ughly. This will ensurre that you u do not
permmanently bu urn contaminates onto o the glassw ware. Whe en handling g quartz (esspecially
cuveettes) you should
s alw
ways wear clean glove es to prevvent oils on n your han nds from
contaaminating anda causing g the onset of devitrificcation.

G
General Cleaning

 Clean glasswarre as soon as possible e after use

e. Allowing dirty glasssware to sitt around
just makes
m evenntual cleaniing more diifficult.
 Sepa arate your glassware into those that need regular cle eaning and those thatt require
more e intense cleaning.
 Disassemble yo our apparattus as soon n as possibble after youu are finished with it. Remove
all stopcocks anda stoppeers from ad ddition fun nels, sepa aratory funn nels, and tthe like.
Grou und glass stopcocks and stopp pers will frreeze in pllace if cerrtain reacta ants (for
exam mple, bases s) were useed in them. Triple-rinsee all surface
es with an aappropriatee alcohol
follow
wed by water to remo ove traces of solventss and reacttion mixture es; place the used
solveents in the appropriate
a e hazardous s waste con ntainer.
 Grad duated cylinnders, bea akers, Erlennmeyer flassks, buretss, and pipe ets that we ere only
used d to dispensse or briefly
y store reag
gents gene erally only nneed to be triple-rinseed with a
comp patible solv
vent follow
wed by tap water and d a final ddeionized ((DI) water rinse, if
desirred. Air dry on a dryingg rack.

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 Büch hner funne els, etc., should

s be rinsed with an app propriate ssolvent to remove
subsstances thatt are clingin ng to them. Follow thiss with tap w water and D DI water rin
nses and
air drry.
 Even n a task as a simple as a washing g glassware re in the ssink is pote entially hazzardous.
Splashing solve ents or dirty y water in thet eyes is a common n hazard. Y You must w wear eye
proteection and gloves tha at are appropriate forr the task at all time es. Choose e proper
glovees by referrring to a glo ove compattibility chartt.
 Before cleaning g, be sure that any ex xcess reag gent has be een disposed of properly and
the vessel
v in wh
hich it was contained
c h been trriple-rinsed into the wa
has aste contain
ner.
 Degrrease yourr glassware e’s ground glass join nts by wipin ng them w with a pape er towel
soakked in a sm mall amountt of ether, acetone,
a orr other solvvent. Wear appropriate e gloves
and minimize
m yoour exposure to the va apors by do oing this in a fume hoo od.
 Place e the glass sware in a warm concentrated aqueous solution off Alconox o or other
deterrgent and le et it sit for several
s minutes.
 Be sure
s that yo our brush is in good shape befo ore scrubbing. It shou uld not be rusty or
havee matted briistles; repla ace it if neceessary. Use e the correcct brush forr the glassw ware; for
exammple, use bottle brushe es on bottle es.
 Scrub. Be careful not to push p too haard on the bottoms off beakers a and flasks; you can
easily push thro ough the bo ottoms, especially on b big beakerss.
 Rinse thoroughly with tap water and give a fina al rinse withh DI water. The water should
sheeet cleanly off
o the glass. If water does not ssheet off th he glass, a and you de esire the
glasssware to be e analyticallly clean, firs st repeat thhe above so oaking and scrubbing steps. If
after a second cleaning bits b of solid d still adheere to the g glass, or iff there is cclearly a
greasy residue on the glas ss, you need more agg gressive acction.
 Notee: if you area doing analytical
a work,
w you sshould triple e-rinse all glassware with DI
wateer before lettting it dry. This
T will remmove any io ons or tap wwater impu urities.
 Dry wet
w glassw ware by 1) placing it on o the dryin ng rack (orr invert on a paper to owel), 2)
placing it in the drying oven (for items s that are wwater-wet on nly, no flammmable solvvents) or
3) rin
nsing with a solvent su uch as acetone, methanol, or eth hanol and tthen gently blowing
comp pressed airr into the vessel
v until it is dry. TThe first m
method is p preferred fo
or drying
analy an glassware (provide
ytically clea ed that the prongs of tthe drying rack are no ot inside
the item, thus contaminat
c ting it). Volumetric gla assware an nd cuvettess should ne ever be
placeed in drying g ovens. The third me ethod is accceptable o only when the compre essed air
suppply is known n to be free e of oil and d other con ntaminants.. An alterna ative to blo
owing air
into the
t item is to t use an aspirator,
a orr house vaccuum, to pu ull air into th
he item.

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M
Moderately
y Aggressive Cleanin
ng

Use these guidelines if generall cleaning fails. Thesse solutions are corrrosive. Use
U e proper
p
personal protective equipment (P
PPE) – apprropriate glo
oves, safetyy glasses, a
and lab coatt.

 e contamina
If the ant is a me etal-contain
ning compo ound, soak the piece o of glasswarre in a 6
M HC Cl solution. Once the solid has dissolved, copiously rrinse the item with tap water,
and then repea at the generral cleaning g steps abo ove. This mmethod will also removve some
organic residues but not grrease.
 If the
e contaminant is orga anic, subme erge the ite em in a basse bath, which is a saturated
NaOH or KOH solution in ethanol, methanol,
m o
or isopropan nol. Be surre the base e bath is
storeed in an HDDPE contain ner; otherw
wise it will le
eak. Wear b butyl glovess and keep p ignition
sourc ces away from
f it. Be sure that the
t piece o of glasswarre is compleetely filled with the
soluttion and is sitting uprright. After several m inutes of ssoaking, ca arefully remmove the
item (it will be slippery),
s annd rinse tho
oroughly. Iff the glasswware is not clean at th his point,
gene eral cleanin
ng steps ma ay need to be repeate ed or a lon
nger soakinng time in the base
bath may be ne eeded. Do not soak any a glasswa are in basee bath longger than neccessary,
as itt can slowlwly dissolve e a layer of o glass orr even perm manently e etch/frost ssurfaces.
NEV VER soak th he following g items in a base bath for prolong ged periods:
o Glassware contamin nated with metal-conta aining compounds
o Glass frittted funnels s
o Cuvettes s
o Volumetrric glassware (pipets, volumetric flasks)
o Any glassware conttaminated by b an oxidizzing agent
o Anything g that has not first been n washed a according too the abovee steps

E
Extremely Aggressiv
ve Cleaning
g

FFollow thesse steps when

w the moderately y aggressivve methods fail. Be very carefful. The
ssolutions de
escribed are
e very corro
osive! Only
y use them in a fume h
hood and w
wear proper PPE.

 Aqua a regia. This

T is an extremely powerful o oxidizing soolution prepared from m 1 part
conccentrated HNO3 and 3 parts conc centrated H HCl. Add 1 part H2O iif you will sstore the
aquaa regia to minimize
m th
he generation of Cl2. This is the e only acidiic solution that will
disso
olve gold annd will oxid
dize just aboout everythhing else. E
Extreme cau ution must be used
when n working with
w aqua regiar because it gene erates Cl2 a
and NOx ga ases in addition to
caussing severe tissue dam mage. Clea an the glasssware befo ore soaking in aqua re egia and
then rinse thoro
oughly with water.
 Aciddic peroxidde. This is most conv veniently prrepared by dissolving the comm mercially-
available NoCh hromix mix x in conce entrated H 2SO4 per the packa age directio ons. An
native preparation is
altern s to prepa are a solu ution by m mixing equ ual proporttions of
conccentrated H2SO4 and aqueous H2O2 solutiions (reme ember to ad dd the acid d to the
H2O2). A 3% H2O2 solution n is usually sufficient, a
and under nno circumsttances sho ould

3 
 
  

H2O2 solutions greater tha an 10% be e used. The e H2O2/H2SSO4 solutio

on is both a strong
oxida
ant and a strong
s redu
uctant, so care
c must be taken wwhen usingg it. Anothe er acidic
peroxxide solutiion for cle eaning can n be prep pared by d dissolving 36 g (NH H4)2S2O8
(ammmonium peroxydisulfatte) in 2.2 L of 98% H2 SO4 (can be made right in the bottle of
H2SOO4, if the bo
ottle is loosely stopperred). The procedure fo
or these so
olutions is th
he same
as fo
or aqua regia, as are th he precautions for their use.

 Chroomic Acid. This is a solution

s of CrO
C 3 in conncentrated H2SO4. A p premeasureed mix is
available underr the name Chromerge e which sho ated in the same way as aqua
ould be trea
a or acidic
regia c peroxide solutions. Because high-valent chromium m is carcinnogenic,
teratogenic, andd causes severe
s environmental damage, th he use of cchromic accid is not
recommmended.

S
Special Cases

 Cuve ettes. Generally, you only need to rinse a cuvette in n the appro opriate solvvent and
wipe the outside with a Kimwipe imm mediately affter use. If something has adherred itself
to a cuvette,
c it is best to so
oak the cuvvette in solvvent first annd gently co oax the solid off the
side with a cotto on swab. Never
N use a brush on n a cuvette e! If this fails, you can use 6 M
HCl. Do not us se a base bath on cuvettes
c beecause it te ends to etch glass ssurfaces.
Neve er put cuve ettes in a drying
d oven--air-dry th hem.
 Fritte
ed Funnells. You can n clean thes se by inverrting and allowing the e solvent too flow by
graviity through the frit in n reverse. You can a also pull so olvent thro ough the frrit under
vacuuum. You can c remove e stubborn material b by soaking in acid, fo ollowed by copious
rinsin
ng with watter under vacuum.
v Be
ecause the base bath solution ettches glasss, do not
use iti on fritted funnels (a brief expos sure to a bbase bath iss not usually fatal to a frit, but
prolo
onged soak king should be avoided d).
 Prottein Contam mination. You can us sually remo ove proteinss by scrubb bing with deetergent,
but occasionall
o y protein defies
d remo oval. In thaat event yo ou can pro oceed to th he more
aggressive acid dic solutionns, or you can preparre a peptid dase solutio on. The en nzymatic
approach is a bit b slower th han the forrcing metho ods, but it is greener a and gentlerr and so
you can
c use it when w the coontaminated d item is inccompatible with acid.
 Fire Polishing g. If you wa ant to save e mildly ch hipped glasssware, you u can fire-ppolish it.
Lightt a Bunsen n burner (be sure no o flammab bles are ne earby) and place the e site of
dama age inside the hottestt part of the e flame. Allow the gla ass to melt enough to smooth
the rough
r edge es of the damage
d onn all sides . When the glass ha as melted enough,
remoove it from the t heat an nd allow to cool. Be ca areful – hot glass looks the same e as cool
glasss. Turn off the
t burner.

F
For more inforrmation, see http://www.ud
del.edu/chem/GlassShop/G
GlasswareCa
are.htm

Revised
d 7/2015

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