The Incident:
In September 2000, a steel lecture bottle located within a hood in a UNR laboratory ruptured with explosive force. The explosion occurred at night and no one was present in the laboratory at the time of the incident. There was, however, significant damage to the lab hood.
The gas cylinder contained methyl nitrite (CH3ONO), which had been synthesized and transferred to the cylinder by a postdoctoral researcher who had left the lab approximately 45 minutes prior to the explosion. After the methyl nitrite was transferred to the cylinder it was left at room temperature in the hood. Although methyl nitrite is known to be explosive when heated or exposed to flame, these conditions were not encountered during the synthesis or storage. The cylinder had originally been used to ship iodotrifluoromethane (CF3I) from the gas vendor, and most recently had been used to store nitrosyl chloride (ClNO).
Ruptured Gas Cylinder