TATP found in long term stored IPA - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: AVGresponding
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2025, 08:14:16 am
content: Well, this is "fun":https://groups.io/g/HP-Agilent-Keysight-equipment/message/153895TL;DR is that deposits of TATP (triacetone triperoxide, which is regarded as a primary explosive) can form in bottles of IPA that have been stored for a period of years.Off I go to check mine... carefully!

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2025, 08:19:21 am
content: Wow!Surely if this was a real problem with real world consequences it'd have come to light by now. It's not like IPA is a new thing.None the less, good to know.Just read 2 of the papers. Holy crap in a handbasket. Mine is in brown bottles on the shelf, but this is something to keep an eye out for in older samples. My oldest unopened bottle is 6 years.

author: tom66
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2025, 08:42:50 am
content: Pretty sure I've got a 5 litre bottle just hanging around in the garage somewhere which hasn't been opened. That's great news. I really want to blow the garage up. NOT.

author: squadchannel
author_rank: Frequent Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2025, 09:28:30 am
content: I was googling it and found an image. It's kind of magical.https://www.reddit.com/r/chemistry/comments/14nxsc6/saw_this_on_twitter_can_someone_explain_what_or/https://x.com/NaOHBartfield/status/1674866422080495624btw, I have a 16L can of 99% IPA. how long would it take for it to vaporize and form explosives?

author: paul cotter
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2025, 08:29:08 pm
content: I would not worry about as the lab accidents that have occurred involved distillation of the solvent with the inevitable increase of peroxide concentration in the remaining liquid. IPA has always been listed as a solvent prone to peroxide formation but I was not aware this involved TATP. Any crystals at the bottom of a container would obviously represent a hazard and would need careful handling but left to the open this substance will quickly sublime away.

author: coppercone2
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 19, 2025, 10:35:42 pm
content: had the stuff for like decades I never saw nothing happen to it. Must be something wrong. There have to be some seriously abnormal storage conditions for this to happen. Is that the result from distilling a 400 gallon tote of the stuff that was left open in a warehouse?I still have the theory that it was isoproypl ether that was mislabeled. Ethers are known to do this. IPA has been used in laboratory settings for more then decades and nothing happens.. even so most ether is stabilized with BHT to make this basically a non-issue. And its possible to chemically clean the solvent before use if its dirty (before distillation) which should be a standard procedure for distilling shady substances. A simple chemical test can be done to test for a peroxide. For ether, you typically add potassium iodide (KI) to see if it changes color. Pure KI is colorless in solution, if there is a peroxide it will turn brown/yellow like tinture of iodine.Actually I am not sure, but something in the back of my head tells me that for some reason, isopropyl ether was like known to form peroxides much more then ethyl or methyl ether, if I remember texts correctly, or perhaps a professional chemist told me this observation

author: amyk
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 20, 2025, 04:08:12 am
content: Possibly something catalysed the reaction.

author: 5U4GB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 20, 2025, 04:26:39 am
content: Quote from: coppercone2 on September 19, 2025, 10:35:42 pmIt would have to be totally anhydrous, which you shouldn't expect to find outside chem labs, and stored wrong, e.g. with sunlight exposure in a clear container. But then having said that I've just looked up some of the local brews and the MSDSes claim various levels > 99%, >99.8%, etc IPA and they're in clear bottles. Maybe they rely on the fact that most people keep them in the back of dark cupboards. Or, as you say, it was something else that's been mislabelled.

author: paul cotter
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 20, 2025, 09:03:00 am
content: To produce any significant quantity of any peroxide derivative a substantial amount of oxygen is required. This is only likely to occur when a large container has only a small amount of solvent present, ie a large amount of air relative to the solvent. I would reckon these reports are very much the exception as IPA has been used as cleaning solvent for so long without a problem- a totally different scenario exists when doing a lab distillation.

author: ifonlyeverything
author_rank: Regular Contributor
timestamp: September 21, 2025, 06:12:15 pm
content: If you're paranoid about peroxide formation you can add BHT (butylated hydroxytoluene) to inhibit its formation. Solvents prone to peroxide formation (diethyl ether or tetrahydrofuran, as an example) will come stabilized with BHT in concentrations between 5 and 100 ppm, so absolutely minuscule amounts.

author: AVGresponding
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2025, 07:39:11 am
content: I don't think there's a need for paranoia, but awareness is never a bad thing. For example, if you did find minute deposits in your IPA and wondered what they were, and did something like rubbing them between fingers to feel how solid they were, that might not be the best idea

author: BradC
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2025, 03:18:35 pm
content: Quote from: AVGresponding on September 22, 2025, 07:39:11 amI suppose that depends on the difference between how many fingers you have vs how many you really need.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2025, 05:59:02 pm
content: If Oxygen is required for TATP production and people are really worried about long term storage of part empty containers, a squirt of Argon gas (aka wine saver, but cheaper from welding supply places) should work.

author: thm_w
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: September 22, 2025, 08:55:24 pm
content: Part of why I'm against the pointless obsession of "needing 99.999% isopropyl for electronics use". 70-90% is fine.If you actually need 99.99% you will know you need it, its not necessary for basic cleaning tasks, and often is worse as some substances will dissolve in water and not ipa.