Flask Mystery Halts Chem 20 Experiment

Unknown saboteurs this weekend made off with a large number of flasks of benxophenone which were sunning on the second floor roof of Mallinckrodt. Chem 20 students were using this chemical in a well-known experiment to produce benzpinacol.

"Somewhere between 0 and 300" round bottom flasks are missing, according to Rodger W. Griffin, head lab man of the course. But apparently the flasks themselves are worth very little, and the benzophenone, though prepared by the students, was a result of only about one lab period.

The mysterious theft was discovered Tuesday, when students in Mallinckrodt labs tried to continue work begun last week. Although an uncertain number of 100 ml flasks of benzophenone had disappeared (students guessed 200, and one section man estimated 40), the beakers they had been resting in were all neatly in place. "We thought maybe someone had taken them in out of the rain," said one student.

But section men expressed the opinion that the whole job was some kind of prank. "No one would possibly want the chemicals for anything," one said.

Students too seemed sure that it was "an inside job." The flasks were being stored on a fairly obscure roof facing the back of Mallinckrodt, reached only by crawling through a window from the chemistry lab. "Someone had to know they were there," hinted a girl student dramatically.

And someone must have made quite elaborate preparations to carry all the flasks away, she added. "Like a truck."

Course instructors first announced the loss in lecture yesterday, requesting any student who knew something about the flask to report it. It has not been officially decided what the students involved will be asked to do about the experiment. Lab men said informally that they doubted students would be asked to begin again, however.