Lithium aluminium hydride reacts extremely violently with water, and the hydrogen liberated may be ignited by a fragment of the hydride and cause an explosion. The powder is extremely caustic, so it must be kept away particularly from the lips, nostrils and eyes. Therefore it must only be handled in an efficient fume cupboard. For these reasons, and the fact that reductions are performed in dry ethoxyethane (C2H5OC2H5, ether) which is extremely flammable and forms an explosive mixture with air, LiAlH4 is an unsuitable reagent for school use.
A slight surpass of the hydride is employed, which is destroyed after the reaction by the addition either of ordinary undried ethoxyethane which contains enough water for the purpose and adds it gradually and in small amounts; or by addition of ethyl ethanoate which is reduced to ethanol.
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