2.1 INTRODUCTION

When one treats 1,2,3-trichloropropane with alkali and a little water the reaction is violent;
there is a tendency to deposit the reaction product, the raw materials and the apparatus on
the ceiling and the attending chemist. I solved this by setting up duplicate 12-liter flasks,
each equipped with double reflux condensers and surrounding each with a half dozen large
tubs. In practice, when the reaction took off I would flee through the door or window and
battle the eruption with water from a garden hose. The contents flying from the flasks were
detected by the ceiling and collected under water in the tubs. I used towels to wring out
the contents that separated, shipping the lower layer to [the client]. They complained of
solids suspended in the liquid, but accepted the product and ordered more. I increased the
number of flasks to four, doubled the number of wash tubs, and completed the new order.
They ordered a 55 gallon drum [of the product]. At best, with myself as chemist and supervisor,
I could make a gallon a day, arriving home with skin and lungs saturated with
2,3-dichloropropene. I needed help. An advertisement in the local newspaper resulted in an interview
with a former producer of illicit spirits named Preacher who had just done penance at the
local penitentiary. He listened carefully and approved of my method of production, which he said
might be improved with copper coils. Immediately he began to enlarge our production room by
removing a wall, putting in an extra table, and increasing the number of washtubs and reaction
set-ups. It was amazing to see Preacher in action (I gave him encouragement through the
window); he would walk up the aisles from set-up to set-up putting in first the caustic then
the water, then fastening the rubber stoppers and condenser, then using the hose. At this stage
the room was a swirling mass of steam and 2,3-dichloropropene. We made a vast amount of
material and shipped the complete order to [the client]—on schedule.
(Max Gergel, 1979)