I broke a CFL in my home (so elemental mercury is present in a small amount) and wiped up some of the mess with a clorox wipe. The wipe in question contains dimethyl benzyl ammonium chloride and dimethyl ethylbenzyl ammonium chloride.
I'm not chemical-phobic, but can someone please tell me, I didn't accidentally expose myself to dimethylmercury? I realize that it is something you don't find outside of very specific lab environments.
Edit: Thanks everyone for the quick responses. It's been a long time since I took a chem class! Can you help me to better understand why this will not methylate the mercury?
For example, I had been cleaning my carpet at the same time with resolve (water, hydrogen peroxide, sodium lauryl sulfate, probably other ingredients too) and threw out paper towels soaked with it to clean the rug into the same bag as the CFL. Am I correct to assume that despite the methyl group on the SDS, it is also stable like the BZK and thus unlikely to methylate the mercury?
No comments:
Post a Comment