OK, question about the last part of the Al/Hg reduction. The part where SWIM has freebase oil, but need to get the mercury salts out of it... Toluene (or possibly xylene according to some online write ups) is added to accomplish this (with further washings). Now does anyone know for certain, would DCM accomplish the same thing, if substituted for the toluene? I know its very basic, but SWIM is not too faithful in SWIM's own chemistry theories and couldn't find a straight answer using the SFSE.
add Cu wire-any Hg whether +1 or +2 will coat the Cu.
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obviousman
Mercury contamination, disposal, cleaning ect has been discussed adnaseum here. UTFSE.