"store on argon"? - (Oct/02/2007 )

Just a curious question. What does "store on argon" mean. And why?

(I got a wrong product, which I have to send back tomorrow and it is supposed to store on argon, beneath -18 degrees of celsius. The man I talked to in the company had no idea but said that -20 freezer was ok, but it made me curious).

Thanks.

edit: sorry, maybe posted it in the wrong forum

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"Store on argon" means that the container should be flushed with argon gas and sealed. Argon is one of the noble gasses (rightmost column of the periodic table) and with its octet of outer-shell electrons it is very non-reactive. Chilling a reactive chemical can lengthen the time it takes to deactivate the stored chemical by reacting with gasses trapped in the container, but chilling "on argon" will increase storage life by providing nothing in the gas phase which the stored chemical can react with.

If the company rep said -20 is good enough, I'd go with that...unless you happen to have a tank of argon handy.

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of course, if you didn't open the package then it is still under argon.

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