[Ingeniosuccinimide]

As you might guess from the title of the topic, I'm having huge problems while transferring minute amounts of solid products from flasks to vials, NMR sample tubes etc.. due to static electricity. The powders go everywhere while being  transferred with a metal spatula except into the vials where they should go, and it's really annoying.

I' m doing some very small-scale photochemistry where I usually work with 10-mg of products or less and every grain is valuable..

Any suggestions on how I could "neutralize" that static electricity before moving the materials? Perhaps a rubber/glass stick? Sth else?

[Borek]

I believe there are specialized antielectrostatic mats - at least I know it is a known problem in the electronic industry and they have ways of dealing with it. It is about grounding everything - you, teh sample, vials and so on.

I would avoid using glass stick, actually I would avoid using anything that is an isolator - metal spatula should work much better (assuming you are grounded).

[Guitarmaniac86]

Sigma Aldrich sell an anti static gun type thingy (when Im in the lab tomorrow I will find out what its called) and you put it against the glassware and pull the trigger. It gets rid of the static. I swear its magic.

[Arkcon]

If your material isn't hygroscopic, you may help by increasing the local humidity,say by having a small open vial of water nearby.  Also,some balances have a small beta emitter to dissipate static charge.

[Dan]

Anti static guns work quite well. You can also ground yourself, flask and spatula on a large metal object (lip of the fume hood for example) before attempting the transfer - this helps a lot. Also make a note of what clothes you are wearing when the static is particularly bad (or not). I find certain jumpers and trousers give me really bad static problems.

The main problem is usually the gloves. If the compounds are known to be non-toxic, and depending on your local safety regulations, you can go commando (no gloves). But investing in a purpose-made anti-static device is what I would recommend, it's safer.

[Enthalpy]

With static electricity worries, the carpet is the suspect #1. Try to dampen it if possible and put a ground wire on it. If this improves, chage the carpet or add at the workplace a conductive carpet connected to the ground.

Conductive pads the size of a table exist too and do a great job. Connect to the ground. Their integrated resistor avoids you electric shocks.

Both are available for the electronics industry.

Air humidity if possible, sure.

I worked on ultra-sensitive electronic components without the usual earth-connected wristband, just by touching the mains' ground before touching the experiment.

If this doesn't suffice: do you need insulating hardware? Graphite-loaded polymers can be machined to the desired shape, some are chemically inert. Or just metal maybe?

[zarhym]

I had the same problem years ago. To solve this problem, I always dissolve my chemicals in some solvent when it needs to be transferred.  I brought some connectors of my vials so that solvent can be evaporated directly from the vial.

[wildfyr]

I know this is terribly low tech, but whenever I have jumpy powders I breathe into the containers. Its works fantastically, better than a static gun, though of course you are adding a tiny tiny tiny bit of water in there.