Professor Craig Merlic’s latest safety paper, “Challenges of Legacy Chemicals”, was selected as an Editor’s Choice article by the American Chemical Society. Of over 53,000 articles published annually in more than 64 journals, only 365 papers (one a day) are selected for this honor.
The paper, published in the December 15, 2024, issue of ACS Chemical Health & Safety, was co-authored with Dr. Imke Schroeder from the UC Center for Laboratory Safety and Dr. Chris Kolodziej (Ph.D. ’11, organic chemistry, Maynard group) from UCLA Environment, Health & Safety (EH&S).
Legacy chemicals—unused or expired chemicals that are no longer needed or usable for research—often remain stored in laboratories for many years. The paper discusses the problems created by legacy chemicals, their origins, how to manage them, how to avoid them, and the overall outlook. Several anecdotes describing real events from UCLA (including incidents such as picric acid, white phosphorus fire, lithium aluminum hydride fire, and a mercury spill) are featured in the paper. This issue is relevant to scientists worldwide, which is why it was selected as an Editor’s Choice article.
Merlic is a renowned expert in laboratory safety and chemical safety management. He has served as the executive director of the UC Center for Laboratory Safety since 2014. In addition to his leadership role at UCLA and the UC system, Merlic has been involved in various national safety initiatives, including advising the National Institute of Standards and Technology on research safety as a federal commissioner in 2023. He is currently working on a project with the National Institutes of Health to train environmental health and safety staff on chemical safety. His extensive experience in safety research and education has made him a recognized figure in the field.
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penny@chem.ucla.edu.