Much of the work in the Girolami group involves air-sensitive compounds; such species have interesting chemistry and often make good catalysts. Although we make extensive use of Schlenk techniques, some manipulations are best carried out in an inert-atmosphere box such as the one shown here. Flasks of compounds can be introduced into the box through the cylidrical port at the right. The atmosphere inside our box is argon; nitrogen is a more conventional choice but some of our compounds are so reactive they would react with N2! The yellow object at the left of the screen is one of our safety-storage cabinets.