Dear Abdulla:
Sodium Azide – Preservative Substitute:
Buy a dilute solution of sodium azide. Avoiding the powder reduces the risk of exposure. Note that even if a dilute solution is purchased it will still be considered P-list waste if sodium azide is the only active ingredient.
-- Consider using 1-2% 2-chloroacetamide as a preservative. Care still must be taken with 2-chloroacetamide as it is a GHS skin sensitizer category 1 and reproductive hazard category 2. It is has a low vapor pressure (0.05 mm Hg at 68F) so should be weighed only in a chemical fume hood or exhausted biosafety cabinet. Note that most BSCs on campus are NOT exhausted. Follow the Toxic Powder Guidelines.
-- Note that the commercial alternatives Proclin and Kathon are no longer available to research labs.
Indeed:
Chemical Substitution:
-- Note: Alternative chemicals may still be hazardous, but with less toxic consequences. Contact Environmental Programs in your area for collection and disposal questions.
-- Contact Laboratory Safety in your area for chemical safety-related information.
Always refer to Safety Data Sheets and SOPs for best work practices.
Also you could see the following from :
https://www.sigmaaldrich.com/US/en/products/clinical-diagnostics/proclin-preservatives...
ProClin preservatives are water-soluble formulations of biocides that are widely used to increase the shelf life of reagents required by the IVD manufacturing industries globally.
ProClin preservative products contain a percentage of one or both chemical substances 5-chloro-2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one (CMIT) (CAS Reg. No. 26172-55-4) and 2-methyl-4-isothiazloin-3-one (MIT) (CAS Reg. No. 2682-20-4). These active substances present in ProClin™ products inhibit the Krebs cycle at four different check points within minutes of contact and effectively display broad-spectrum biocidal activity against bacteria, fungi, and yeast.
Unlike other biocides like sodium azide or thimerosal, our ProClin™ products can be neutralized and disposed as non-hazardous waste. Our effective biocidal ProClin™ product range does not pose a health hazard, toxicology problems, or disposal issues at recommended usage levels.
As a premium quality raw material, ProClin™ products can reduce supply chain risk through our robust Change Control Notification (CCN) program and comprehensive regulatory documentation.
We offer ProClin™ products in convenient pack sizes suitable for your manufacturing requirements. Our ProClin™ variety kit 48119-U is an excellent choice for new users who need to evaluate the suitability of our products for their applications.
We provide ProClin™ biocide product range with different characteristic formulations in multiple pack sizes to suit your specific needs.
ProClin™ 150 contains 1.5% CMIT/MIT in water with 23-25% magnesium salts (recommended working pH range is 2.5 - 8.5).
ProClin™ 200 is composed of 1.5% CMIT/MIT in water containing 3% magnesium and copper salts. For best results, we recommended the working pH range as 2.5 - 8.5.
ProClin™ 300 consists of 3% CMIT/MIT in a salt-free proprietary glycol containing an alkly carboxylate stabilizer with recommended working pH range as 2.5 - 8.5.
ProClin™ 950 is composed of 9.5% MIT in salt-free water. The recommended working pH range is 2 - 12.
Additionally, we also provide ProClin™ support products like a ProClin™ reference standard and a ProClin™ variety kit, useful in testing and evaluating the use of ProClin™ within a specific diagnostic reagent or assay.
Indeed you could benefit from this valuable article in Arabic, at URL:
https://cen.acs.org/synthesis/arabic-Chemists-make-arrays-click-chemistryready/97/i39
I hope it will be helpful... with my best wishes...
Thank you so much for the enlightenment prof Hassan Nasser ! Probably my question wasn't stated the right way. I am asking for an alternative that would do the same job as Sodium Azide does in airbags used in cars for safety purposes. The question is targeting materials with explosive nature as Sodium azide and the nature of its trigger (might refer to this link for more explanation AIRBAG SUPPLIERS TEST ALTERNATIVES TO SODIUM AZIDE - Telecompaper) apart from the preservative properties. I need to obtain an alternative with lower toxicity, low temperature at explosion to be denotated as an explosive in a system I am currently working on with a gaseous by-product for similar purpose.
I hope the message is now more clear and I would be grateful for more elaboration. Thank you !
Dear Abdullah, this is actually a very interesting and important technical question. Current research in this area is often directed toward the development of nitrogen-rich energetic compounds which are for example based on the azotetrazolate anion and related compounds. Such explosive materials have low toxicity and produce mainly elemental nitrogen as gaseous by-products. Thus I strongly suggest that you search the "Publications" section of RG for the term "nitrogen-rich energetic compounds":
https://www.researchgate.net/search.Search.html?type=publication&query=nitrogen-rich%20energetic%20compounds
This will provide you with a long list of relevant references which have been posted by RG members, many of them even as public full texts. Similarly you can also search for the term "azotetrazolate". A typical very useful article in this field is the following:
High-Energy Salts of 5,5’-Azotetrazole. I. Thermochemistry and Thermal Decomposition
Article High-Energy Salts of 5,5’-Azotetrazole. I. Thermochemistry a...
This article is freely available as public full text on RG.
I hope this answers your question. Good luck with your research and best wishes, Frank Edelmann
Wholehearted thanks for elaboration Prof. Frank T. Edelmann , this was truly enlightening.
Best Regards,
Abdullah