Chemical industry plays an important role in the Indian economy like other industries. Overall the chemical industry is viewed with a high degree of apprehension on the environmental pollution and sustainability fronts. Since it is considered as an industry which impacts public health due to the bulk effluents discharged during production, the producers involved in chemical industry should take stringent measures to ensure public health safety by adhering to rules and guidelines in the production manuals.
India is fast emerging as a favourable destination for sourcing, research and development of special chemicals, because it is renowned for its skills in the area of special chemicals.The special chemicals are meant for specialized use and they are manufactured in lower volume than bulk chemicals.
Chemical laboratories are an integral part of several industries, and academic institutions such as schools, colleges and universities. Any laboratory needs various types of chemicals to continue research activities and sample testing. In pharmaceutical sector purity of laboratory chemicals plays very significant role in formulation of new drugs and medicines.
Laboratory chemicals play a significant role in chemical analysis, qualitative and quantitative estimation of elements, ions, molecules and compounds in clinics, quality control in concerned department. Besides chemical process and control of laboratories, the laboratory chemicals are also required for various areas such pathological laboratories, process instrumentation,metallurgical laboratories,control and computer laboratories, chemical and allied sector, agricultural development sectors like fertilizer and pesticides,information technology laboratories etc.
Laboratory chemicals play a vital role in conducting research activities.Laboratory chemicals are available in different grades based on the applications. These are listed in various grades based on the impurity content and applications. It is presumed that commercially available laboratory chemicals normally has good quality standards. To get the desired grade of results from testing of samples, one must begin work with a chemical of best quality standard.
For getting good quality research and development work in pharmaceutical industry, one needs a good laboratory and for which needs a standard of good quality laboratory chemicals. It is presumed that commercially available laboratory chemicals are in general of good quality, as supplied, for most purposes in scientific and technological work.
Quality assurance activities assure that a product or service will satisfy its required quality characteristics. Quality control is the establishment of quality specifications for each piece of equipment or procedure and involves ensuring that they conform to established limits and standards.
Laboratory plays significant role in pharmaceutical sector to maintain quality assurance and quality control and to perform these efficiently with proper instruments as well as laboratory equipment are necessary. Each piece of laboratory equipment in pharmaceutical sector, which follow good manufacturing practices, should contain a binder or file that contains the quality control sheets as well as records of maintenance and possible occurrences.
Available grades
Based on the purity and applications, the laboratory chemicals are ranked or arranged in a sequence of grades. Some of the general chemical grades are given below.
Laboratory research grade: It is a line of solvents suitable for history methods and general laboratory applications.
Reagent ACS grade: It means the chemicals meet the specifications of the American Chemical Society, most suitable for use in several laboratories for analytical applications and is suitable for use in ultra-trace elemental analysis. It also meets the specifications as listed in “Reagent Chemicals published by the American Chemical Society”.
Analytical research grade and laboratory research grade: Analytical research grade is purer than laboratory research grade, but the per cent of impurities is unknown. The standard ‘Mallinckrodt’ grade of analytical reagents are suitable for laboratory and general use, if the reagent also meets the requirements of the American Chemical Society Committee on Analytical Reagent, it will be denoted as an AR (ACS) reagent.
Organic reagent grades
These are suitable for research applications.
Guaranteed reagent grade: It has the ideal quality for laboratory purposes. Batch to batch reproducibility is specially controlled to guarantee consistent analytical results. This grade is equivalent to analytical research grade and also reagent grade.
Technical grade: It is a grade, which is suitable for normal industrial use.
Primary standard grade: This is an analytical reagent of exceptional purity that is specially manufactured for standardizing volumetric solutions and preparing reference standards.
Reagent grade: It is the highest standard of quality commercially available. However for this chemical, the American Chemical Society has not officially exercised any specifications.
Chemically pure grades
These products are with purity suitable for use in general applications.In general, the classifications of acids are based on source - that is organic and inorganic strengths (i.e. diluted and concentrated, etc.).Based on applications, the acids used in laboratory are often grouped various grades. The following are the grades of acids used in laboratories.
Omni trace grade acid group: This has higher purity than reagent grade, suitable for trace metals analysis. Acids are analyzed for a minimum of 33 different metals. Trace metals are typically in parts per billion (ppb) ranges.
Trace metal plus grade: It is for critical trace metals analysis and the acids are manufactured by double sub-boiling distillation to achieve low metal contamination in parts per million (ppm) range, and every lot is analyzed for thirty two metals by “ICP/MS. (Tedium designation)”.
Environmental grade acids: it is extremely high purity refined through a single sub-boiling distillation process.
AR grade acids: These are a line of acids specifically developed for trace metal analysis, analyzed for up to 28 metals in the 0.05 to 0.0005 ppm range (MBI trademark).
AR select plus acids: These are produced utilizing sub-boiling point, quartz-lined stills and are stored in fluoropolymer bottles to maintain purity, and are tested for 45 elements in the 3.5 to 0.005 ppb range and ensuring low background interference (MBI trademark).
Super-pure grade acids: These are high purity acids suitable for sensitive instrumental methods. Trace metals in low ppb range, frequently less than detection limits and this grade applies to acids and salts.
Conclusion
Very special care and precaution has to be taken while packing and in the storage time of laboratory chemicals and acids. Most importantly containers in which chemicals are stored must be properly labelled. Some of the significant points to be taken care are - absorbent materials must be readily available so as to absorb any type of spills. The laboratory chemicals must be stored at a temperature and humidity level mentioned in guidelines. The stored chemicals should never come in contact with direct sunlight, and the chemicals that are not used for a long time should be disposed of in a right manner. Proper care should be taken in the storage and handling of laboratory chemicals.
(The author is a chemical engineer, based in Mumbai)