Zürich Evacuation and Lab Breakthroughs: A Week of Chemical Extremes in Switzerland

While scientists at the ETH Zurich and the University of Zurich (UZH) were publishing two major advances in chemical and medical research — a safer method to produce fluorochemicals and a biohybrid microrobot that healed paralyzed mice in under a month — authorities in the same city were scrambling to contain a different kind of chemical challenge. On Wednesday, nearly 270 people had to leave their homes and workplaces as a specialist team disposed of a notoriously dangerous substance from a university research batch.

The operation, which lasted from 10:00 to 16:30, targeted chlorine trifluoride — a compound both highly toxic and extremely flammable. Police cordoned off a zone covering Tannenstrasse, Sonneggstrasse, Leonhardstrasse and Weinbergfussweg. The resulting street closures and public-transport disruptions affected a large part of the university neighbourhood. A German disposal company handled the removal of the chemical. Only after six and a half hours was the area declared safe again and residents allowed back.

The ETH incident came amid a week of other safety-related callouts across Switzerland. On June 2, in Gähwil SG, an industrial tank at a production plant overflowed with glycerin, generating a hot cloud of smoke that melted plastic components inside the building and caused heavy machinery damage. The facility was evacuated and ventilated. Several employees reported breathing difficulties, though none required hospital treatment. Investigators are still looking into what caused the overflow.

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Then, on the evening of June 3, firefighters responded to a major blaze in a high-rise in Basel’s Dreispitz district. Flames and thick smoke could be seen from a distance. Police and fire crews arrived with a large contingent, and Münchensteinerstrasse had to be closed to traffic.

Amid these hazardous-material operations, researchers at ETH Zurich and UZH announced a breakthrough in fluorine chemistry: a new process that works without the use of highly toxic hydrogen fluoride. By mixing oxalic acid with boric acid or silicon dioxide, the team manages to activate fluorite (fluorspar) at 80 degrees Celsius in an aqueous environment. This makes the production of fluoroaromatics safer and more sustainable.

In a separate project reported in Nature Materials, the same network of scientists presented biohybrid microrobots — termed NPC-bots — that can treat spinal cord injuries. Controlled by external magnetic fields, these bots carry stem cells tagged with magnetoelectric nanoparticles. In animal tests, paralyzed mice recovered within 28 days; zebrafish were restored after just three days. The system requires no implanted electrodes.

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