[meaningfulgibberish]

I asked around on reddit several months back but I wanted to ask here just to cover my grounds.

I'm working with Nickel COD2. I'm worried about its toxicity. When handling it, what precautions should I take? What are precautions I should take on work-up of the reaction? How do I keep the catalyst "good" and are ways to purify it?

Sorry if any of this is redundant, and thanks.

[BobfromNC]

I used that many years back, but I was able to do most of the work in a dry box.   I seem to remember that it was not very stable to air, water, light or temps, so if you can use a dry box or bag, I would.  Otherwise, you will have to use much care to keep it under argon or nitrogen, and maybe just buy it in small ampules or vials and plan to use it all.   I was not as worried about toxicity, since it was sealed, but I don't think it is as bad as some other complexes, as it breaks down fast in air, but not sure what you get as the waste.

The reactions I ran were pretty small amounts, so I just concentrated the reactions and chromatographed, and put the used silica in the heavy metal solid waste.  If you don't have a dry box, I don't think you can easily purify it.   Much like gold and platinum, there are some things that you can buy easier than making yourself.   I think mine came from Strem or Alfa, they are two good places to try.