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I know that standard latex and nitrile gloves don't stop common organic solvents such as DCM and acetone. However, I was reading a Reddit thread and there were comments that if you are coming into contact with solvents you are just wearing the wrong type of gloves. In a non-manufacturer specific fashion, what types of gloves will stop DCM and acetone?

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Hmm, do you want the gloves for DCM and acetone, or gloves for all organic solvents? The "such as [..DCM and acetone]" is rather misleading. If it's the latter, this is possibly too broad. – ManishEarth♦ Jul 18 '12 at 14:36
I've edited your question slightly to remove the broadness/make-a-list-ness. Otherwise it was eligible to be closed as Not Constructive. Let me know if you have any issues with the edit :) – ManishEarth♦ Jul 18 '12 at 16:12
There is a very common (and wrong) thought in this question: All or nothing, black and white etc. No glove made from any rubber will "stop" a solvent. Solvents (the smaller the molecule the faster) will diffuse through all rubbers, the diffusion rates may differ a bit, but not much. The problem to use some rubber or a different type is resistance of the rubber against swelling! Depending on polarity of rubber/solvent and degree of crosslinking, the rubbber will swell a little bit, or often so excessivelly, that it will tear from a touch. – Georg Jul 18 '12 at 18:52
What will it slow down long enough for me to have a chance to finish what I'm doing and change my gloves in a safe manner? – Canageek Jul 19 '12 at 1:00
I was looking more for a guide on what gloves to use when, I just had DCM on my mind since nitrile doesn't slow it down, and it burns, and acetone, since it is hard to stop. – Canageek Jul 19 '12 at 1:01
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You can use tips from the site link - the table at the bottom or just google which glove can suit your needs. As you can read from the link:

  • Nitrile gloves are Low cost, excellent physical properties, dexterity, but they are Poor vs. benzene, methylene chloride, trichloroethylene, many ketones. They are recommended for Oils, greases, aliphatic chemicals, xylene, perchloroethylene, trichloroethane; fair vs. toluene,
  • According to Agronne for dealing with acetone you should use Natural Latex/Rubber or Butyl gloves.
  • For DCM there are no good gloves - you could try using neoprenes
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Welcome to Chemistry Stack Exchange! I'm sorry, due to link rot et al we discourage link-only answers. Could you add a bit from that page to this post? Summarize the relevant bits about DCM and acetone in your own words (you can quote it as well). Let me know when you do so! – ManishEarth♦ Jul 18 '12 at 14:14
@Manishearth As suggested I’ve improved the answer – java_xof Jul 20 '12 at 5:45
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I just did a bit of an experiment. My lab uses Kimberly Clark nitrile gloves, and we have a huge jug of acetone. First, I put a glove on my hand, and poured acetone all over it. My hand felt cold, but not nearly as cold as it feels when I spill acetone on my bare hand. I allowed the acetone to evaporate from the glove (approximately 30 s), and removed the glove. There was absolutely no acetone on my hand or the inside of the glove. I then took a fresh glove, and poured enough acetone into it to fill the fingers with acetone. I held the opening shut for about 5 minutes, and poured out the acetone. During that time, the glove slowly felt thinner and easier to stretch. At the end, it was so thin that it tore with almost no effort. So for the particular pair of nitrile gloves and acetone, it looks like somewhere between 1 and 5 minutes' exposure will render the glove useless.

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