Determination of kinetics of the karl Fischer reaction based on coulometry and true potentiometry

A new measurement technique based on a combination of coulometry and zero-current potentiometry is described for determination of the kinetics of rapidly reacting Karl Fischer (KF) reagents. This makes it possible to determine the order as well as the rate constant for large variations in the concentrations of iodine and water present during a titration. It was shown that for imidazole-based methanolic reagents exposed to a large variation in the concentration of water, the KF reaction is first order with respect to iodine, sulfur dioxide, and water only for reagents in which the concentration of nonprotonated imidazole is very low. The rate constant determined for such a reagent (1 M imidazole, 0.8 M sulfur dioxide, 0.1 M iodine) was equal to that reported earlier in the literature. Regions showing first-order kinetics were also found for low concentrations of water when imidazole concentrations up to 2 mol/L were used, provided that these reagents had a quotient [Im](free)/[ImH(+)] around 4. In the interval 2-8 mol/L of imidazole, the order of the reaction with respect to iodine was, in most cases, one-half, while it was changed to between one-half and one with respect to water. The rate of the KF reaction was found to increase by nearly 5 orders of magnitude for a reagent in which the concentration of nonprotonated imidazole was increased from 0 (rate constant equal to 2.6 × 10(3) L(2) mol(-)(2) s(-)(1)) to about 7 mol/L. For most of these reagents, a recovery rate close to 100% was attained. A high concentration of nonprotonated imidazole in combination with a high concentration of sulfur dioxide could, however, lead to a change in stoichiometry of the KF reaction when larger amounts of water were determined (250 μg of water added to 3.4 mL of reagent solution). A reaction scheme is proposed which might explain this change in stoichiometry observed for some reagent compositions. By use of the described most rapidly reacting reagents, it was shown to be possible to carry out titrations even at such a low end-point concentration as 10(-)(10) M of iodine within 1-2 min.     

Determination of the analytical performance of a headspace capillary gas chromatographic technique and karl Fischer coulometric titration by system calibration using oil samples containing known amounts of moisture

Over the past few years, concerns have been raised in the literature about the accuracy of the Karl Fischer (KF) method for assessing moisture in transformer mineral oils. To better understand this issue, the performance of a static headspace capillary gas chromatographic (HS-CGC) technique was compared to that of KF coulometric titration by analyzing moisture in samples containing known amounts of water and various samples obtained from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). Two modes of adding samples into the KF vessel were used: direct injection and indirect injection via an azeotropic distillation of the moisture with toluene. Under the conditions used for direct injection, the oil matrix was totally dissolved in the anolyte, which allowed the moisture to be titrated in a single-phase solution rather than in a suspension. The results have shown that when HS-CGC and combined azeotropic distillation/KF titration are calibrated with moisture-in-oil standards, a linear relation is observed over 0-60 ppm H(2)O with a correlation coefficient better than 0.9994 (95% confidence), with the regression line crossing through zero. A similar relation can also be observed when calibration is achieved by direct KF addition of standards prepared with octanol-1, but in this case an intercept of 4-5 ppm is noted. The amount of moisture determined by curve interpolation in NIST reference materials by the three calibrated systems ranges from 13.0 to 14.8 ppm for RM 8506 and 42.5 to 46.4 ppm for RM 8507, and in any case, the results were as high as those reported in the literature with volumetric KF titration. However, titration of various dehydrated oil and solvent samples showed that direct KF titration is affected by a small bias when samples contain very little moisture. The source of error after correction for the large sample volume used for the determination (8 mL) is about 6 ppm for Voltesso naphthenic oil and 4 ppm for toluene, revealing a matrix effect on the measurement. Finally, the results revealed that HS-CGC is a good technique for measuring moisture in oil samples and that the use of azeotropic vapors for introducing moisture into the titrator almost completely eliminates the matrix effect observed with the oil components. Direct KF injection could also be used provided the system is calibrated with moisture-in-oil standards prepared in the same matrix which is to be used for the determination.     

十六烷基三甲基溴化铵为增敏剂光度法测定抗坏血酸

本文提出了一种以十六烷基三甲基溴化铵(CTMAB)为增敏剂的测定痕量抗坏血酸的光度分析方法。吸收波长为664nm,抗坏血酸用量在0—10μg/mL范围内符合朗伯一比尔定律,线性方程为△A=2.006C+0.0082,检出限量为4.2×10~(-9)g/25mL。本法有灵敏度高,抗干扰能力强,操作简便等优点,用于Vc药片中抗坏血酸测定,获得满意结果。     

Efficiency of methods for Karl Fischer determination of water in oils based on oven evaporation and azeotropic distillation

The efficiency of azeotropic distillation and oven evaporation techniques for trace determination of water in oils has recently been questioned by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), on the basis of measurements of the residual water found after the extraction step. The results were obtained by volumetric Karl Fischer (KF) titration in a medium containing a large excess of chloroform (> or = 65%), a proposed prerequisite to ensure complete release of water from the oil matrix. In this work, the extent of this residual water was studied by means of a direct zero-current potentiometric technique using a KF medium containing more than 80% chloroform, which is well above the concentration recommended by NIST. A procedure is described that makes it possible to correct the results for dilution errors as well as for chemical interference effects caused by the oil matrix. The corrected values were found to be in the range of 0.6-1.5 ppm, which should be compared with the 12-34 ppm (uncorrected values) reported by NIST for the same oils. From this, it is concluded that the volumetric KF method used by NIST gives results that are much too high.     

Speciation of chromium in water samples with cloud point extraction separation and preconcentration and determination by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

A novel method has been developed for the speciation of chromium in natural water samples based on cloud point extraction (CPE) separation and preconcentration, and determination by graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (GFAAS). In this method, Cr(III) reacts with 1-phenyl-3-methyl-4-benzoylpyrazol-5-one (PMBP) yielding a hydrophobic complex, which then is entrapped in the surfactant-rich phase, whereas Cr(VI) remained in aqueous phase. Thus, separation of Cr(III) and Cr(VI) could be realized. Total chromium was determined after the reduction of Cr(VI) to Cr(III) by using ascorbic acid as reducing reagent. PMBP was used not only as chelating reagent in CPE procedure, but also as chemical modifier in GFAAS determination of chromium. The detection limit for Cr(III) was 21 ng L(-1) with an enrichment factor of 42, and the relative standard deviation was 3.5% (n=7, c=10 ng mL(-1)). The proposed method has been applied to the speciation of chromium in natural water samples with satisfactory results.     

Conditions for accurate Karl Fischer coulometry using diaphragm-free cells

Factors influencing the extent of formation of oxidizable reduction products in coulometric cells used for Karl Fischer (KF) determination of water were investigated. For methanolic KF reagents buffered with imidazole (Im) or diethanolamine (DEA) (separately or in combination), three parameters were found to be of outmost importance: the cathodic current density, the pH, and the concentration of protonated base (ImH+ or DEAH+). For reagents buffered with only Im, the relative formation of oxidizable reduction products varied in the range 2-40%; i.e., 51-70 micrograms of water was found for a 50 micrograms water sample, depending on the above-mentioned parameters. The lowest values were observed for reagents having a pH around 10 in combination with cathodic current densities in the range 2000-5000 mA cm-2. For all the Imbuffered reagents investigated, the addition of modifiers such as chloroform, hexanol, and carbon tetrachloride was found to decrease the formation of oxidizable reduction products significantly. For example, a reagent buffered at pH 10 containing 1 M hexanol gave less than 0.3% formation in the current density interval from 200 to 4000 mA cm-2. The best reagents based on the above-mentioned modifiers were tested in the continuous coulometric mode with errors typically in the interval 0-0.5% using optimum conditions. One prerequisite for obtaining such small errors with diaphragm-free continuous coulometry is to use a cathode area no larger than 0.002 cm2. For some of the reagents based on both Im and DEA, the formation of oxidizable reduction products was close to zero at certain current densities, although the analytical performance was not as good as for the reagents buffered solely by Im due to longer conditioning and titration times.     

The Karl Fischer Titration of Water

Abstract

The Karl Fischer method for the determination of water is briefly reviewed. The chemistry of the reaction of Karl Fischer reagent with water is discussed, and modifications in the reagent composition are summarized. Some of these modifications result in more stable reagents. The visual, spectrophotometric, and electrometric forms of the Karl Fischer titration are described and compared.     

Diaphragm-free cell for trace determination of water based on the karl Fischer reaction using continuous coulometric titration

A new type of diaphragm-free coulometric cell for continuous coulometric Karl Fischer titrations of water in the range 0.1-1000 μg is described. The relative standard deviation obtained for titrations of 1 μg amounts of water was typically 1%. The background due to diffusion of water from the air was normally in the range 0.3-0.9 μg of water min(-1) depending on environmental humidity. The variation in the background was normally ±0.01 μg min(-1). The construction makes it possible, at any time in a sequence of titrations, to renew the catholyte by means of a Teflon plunger inside the cathode compartment. In this way, the interference effects caused by oxidizable reduction products of methyl sulfite which are formed at the cathode can be controlled in a very simple way. These products are rapidly eliminated by means of a normal titration before a new titration starts. The need for this draining step differs depending on the type of reagent used. The coulometric titration system makes use of true potentiometric end-point detection, and this principle makes it possible to control the iodine level at the end-point at much lower levels as compared with commercial instrumentation. The analytical advantages gained by this option are demonstrated for the determination of water in ethylenediamine, a task which was found to be impossible when using end-point concentrations in the range (3-7) × 10(-5) M, which is typical for the bipotentiometric indicating system used in commercial instruments. Recovery rates in the range 100-102% were obtained and are shown to be dependent on the type of reagent used. The most accurate results were obtained for an imidazole-buffered methanolic reagent in which the concentration of sulfur dioxide was kept relatively low (0.10 M). The diaphragm-free cell described was shown to be compatible with all of the commercial reagents (designed for coulometry) investigated, including the well-known Hydranal products Coulomat A, AK, AG, AG-H, and AD.     

An assay for ascorbic acid based on polyaniline-coated microplates

A technique for modification of the microtiter reader plates well with a polyaniline (PANI) film sensitive for ascorbic acid is presented. The principle of the analyte detection is based on monitoring the changes in optical absorption of the PANI film resulting from the reduction process initiated by ascorbic acid. The detection limit for ascorbic acid is 1 mg/L. Testing with real samples (soft drinks, fruit juices) gave good correlation of the method with iodimetric titration. High sensitivity, stability, and good reproducibility of the measurements make the proposed system an attractive alternative to traditional assays, used in medicine, ecology, and biotechnology.     

Spectrophotometric determination of aluminium and indium with 2,2',3,4-tetrahydroxy-3',5'-disulphoazobenzene

2,2',3,4-Tetrahydroxy-3',5'-disulphoazobenzene (tetrahydroxyazon 2S) has been synthesized for the first time. This reagent has been used for the spectrophotometric determination of aluminium and indium ions. The method is very sensitive and selective for the direct determination of aluminium and indium. The optimum pH and absorbance of complexes formed of tetrahydroxyazon 2S with aluminium and indium are 5; 500 nm and 495 nm for Al and In, respectively. The system obeys Beer's law at 0.05-1.6 microg mL(-1) of aluminium and 0.06-2.1 microg mL(-1) of indium concentration. The molar absorptivity is 6.42 x 10(4)L mol(-1)cm(-1) for aluminium and 7.70 x 10(4)L mol(-1)cm(-1) for indium. The molar compositions of the complexes are 1:1 at optimum conditions. Alkaline and alkaline earth elements, halogens, thiourea, ascorbic acid, Cd(II), Pb(II), Mn(II), Zn(II), Co(II), Ni(II), Cr(III), Bi(III), La(III), Si(IV) do not interfere this method. The method can be applied to the direct spectrophotometric determination of trace amounts of aluminium in steel, alloys, waste water, river waters, spring water and ground water. The method was also successfully applied to the indium determination in artificial mixture.     

Cloud point extraction of palladium in water samples and alloy mixtures using new synthesized reagent with flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS)

The present paper outlines novel, simple and sensitive method for the determination of palladium by flame atomic absorption spectrometry (FAAS) after separation and preconcentration by cloud point extraction (CPE). The cloud point methodology was successfully applied for palladium determination by using new reagent 4-(2-naphthalenyl)thiozol-2yl azo chromotropic acid (NTACA) and hydrophobic ligand Triton X-114 as chelating agent and nonionic surfactant respectively in the water samples and alloys. The following parameters such as pH, concentration of the reagent and Triton X-114, equilibrating temperature and centrifuging time were evaluated and optimized to enhance the sensitivity and extraction efficiency of the proposed method. The preconcentration factor was found to be (50-fold) for 250 ml of water sample. Under optimum condition the detection limit was found as 0.067 ngml(-1) for palladium in various environmental matrices. The present method was applied for the determination of palladium in various water samples, alloys and the result shows good agreement with reported method and the recoveries are in the range of 96.7-99.4%.     

Development of an amino acid sequence and D/L-configuration determination method of peptide with a new fluorescence Edman reagent, 7-methylthio-4-(2,1,3-benzoxadiazolyl) isothiocyanate

On the basis of the relationship between the fluorescence characteristics of the benzofurazan compounds and the Hammett constants (sigma p), a new fluorescence Edman reagent, 7-methylthio-4-(2,1,3-benzoxadiazolyl) isothiocyanate (MTBD-NCS) was designed and synthesized. MTBD-thiohydantoin (TH)-amino acid derivatives produced by the Edman sequencing method gave fluorescence, whereas other degradation byproducts such as MTBD-thiocarbamoyl (TC)- or carbamoyl (CA)-amino acids did not fluoresce. MTBD-NCS was applicable as an Edman sequencing reagent to the simultaneous determination of both the sequence and D/L-configuration of amino acids in peptides. Boron trifluoride (BF3) and HC1/methanol were adopted as the cyclization/cleavage and conversion reagents to suppress the amino acid residue racemization. The MTBD-TH-amino acids were separated on a reversed-phase column for amino acid sequencing, and their enantiomers were resolved on two types of polysaccharide-based chiral stationary phases for D/L-configuration determination. The method was successfully applied to the sequence and D/L-configuration determination of D-amino acid-containing peptide [D-Ala2]-deltorphin II.     

Determination of water in NIST reference material for mineral oils

The accuracy of the reference concentrations of moisture in electrical insulating oil RM 8506 and lubricating oil RM 8507 (both of mineral type) and specified by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) as containing 39.7 and 76.8 ppm (w/w) water, respectively, has recently been the subject of debate in this journal. To shed some further light on this controversy, we report in this correspondence results for these oils obtained by two additional methods, one based on specially designed reagents for diaphragm-free Karl Fischer (KF) coulometry and the other based on the concept of stripping at elevated temperature/continuous KF coulometry. A positive interference effect was shown to take place for RM 8506 when the direct coulometric method was used. If the results are corrected for this, the values including six different procedures varied in the range 13.5-15.6 ppm (w/w). For RM 8507, all values were between 42.5 and 47.2 ppm (w/w), which means that the values recommended by NIST for both reference oils using volumetric titration are about twice as high as those obtained with the other techniques. A possible explanation for this discrepancy is presented.     

糠醛酸度测定方法的改进

通过对传统容量法即酸碱滴定与自动电位滴定两种方法的探讨,为操作者寻求一种既安全环保又快速准确的测定糠醛酸度的方法。     

The Estimation of Phenidone in Used Developers†

A new method for the determination of l-phenyl-3-pyrazolidone (Phenidone) in Phenidone-hydroquinone developers is based on the extraction of the Phenidone with chloroform, titration with a solution of iodine in chloroform in the presence of aqueous acid and back-titration with sodium thiosulphate. The iodine-Phenidone reaction is nearly stoichiometric under these conditions, provided that at least a 50 per cent excess of iodine is used. The titration in the chloroform-water mixture appears to inhibit secondary reactions between iodine and the oxidation products of the Phenidone.     

Bias assessment of current technologies used for the determination of low levels of moisture in mineral oil samples

The problem in the current debate on the accuracy of Karl Fischer (KF) titrations lies in the fact that coulometry is being compared to volumetry on mineral oil samples for which the true moisture content is unknown. To clarify this point, dehydrated oil samples equilibrated under known temperature and relative humidity conditions and equilibrated oil samples containing known amounts of added moisture were used to assess the accuracy of the determinations. In addition, the measurements were extended to other techniques given that it is unlikely that they would be affected by the same phenomenon causing the KF systematic errors. The samples sent to different laboratories were analyzed by headspace/capillary gas chromatography, gas-phase H2 sensor, oil-phase or gas-phase RH sensors, KF coulometric titration with direct or indirect injection, and KF volumetric titration using a standard or NIST modified procedure. The laboratory comparison showed that with the exception of 4 techniques out of 10 that were tested, the measurements gave results in the expected concentration range. Considering the exceptions, two techniques based on volumetric titration yielded results tainted with an important positive bias for both sample types. This bias, tentatively associated with the high iodine end point concentration used by these systems, was estimated at approximately 22 ppm under the conditions applied by NIST. On the other hand, the two RH sensors showed a marked tendency to underestimate the value of the samples containing high moisture content. In this case, a loss of analyte through wall adsorption during the time required to achieve steady-state conditions in the measuring chamber seems to be at the origin of the negative biases.     

Colorimetric method for determining Pb2+ ions in water enhanced with non-precious-metal nanoparticles

Sulfur anions and their derivatives have long been recognized for their high selectivity and reactivity toward Pb(2+) ions and formation of highly absorptive yet water-insoluble compounds with both acid and base media. This phenomenon has been used for qualitative analysis of lead ions in water. We demonstrate a new method to quantitatively determine the Pb(2+) concentration in the range of 0.5-500 ppm in water using colorimetric measurement, based on forming "soluble" lead sulfide in water enhanced with non-precious-metal nanoparticles. This method has inherent high selectivity for lead over other alkali-metal and alkaline-earth-metal ions. The colorimetric measurements of the absorptive solutions provide accurate determination of the lead concentration in water comparable to that measured using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. To our knowledge, this is the simplest, lowest cost, and easiest-to-use method for detecting and determining the lead concentration in water.     

一种测定润滑油总碱值的新技术

润滑油氧化变质是一个在所难免的问题，氧化致使润滑油的性能下降，进而导致设备故障。为防止润滑油过度使用，人们通常通过测定总碱值以了解润滑油中和酸性物质的能力。测定润滑油的总碱值的标准方法的化学试剂毒性较大，且滴定终点不易判断。这里介绍了一种新的测定技术一循环伏安法。研究表明，具有测定结果，准确、自动化程度高、操作简单、测定时间短等优点，适合进行现场润滑油测定。     

A simple titrimetric method for the determination of osmium(IV) in standard chloride solutions and intermetallic alloys

A new method for the determination of osmium(IV) in aqueous chloride solutions by means of the iodometric titration with visual (by using starch as an indicator) and potentiometric indications of the end of the process of titration is developed. This simple and rapid method is based on the interaction of Os(IV) with the excess iodide ions in sulfuric-acid media and on the titration of liberated iodine with a standardized solution of sodium thiosulfate. The method was approved by detecting the milligram quantities of osmium(IV) in standard solutions and intermetallic alloys. The relative standard deviations (RSD) did not exceed 1.5%.     

Effect of model ligands on iron redox speciation in natural waters using flow injection with luminol chemiluminescence detection

The effects of dissolved organic compounds on the determination of nanomolar concentrations of Fe(II) have been compared using two luminol-based flow injection chemiluminescence (FI-CL) methods. One used the direct injection of sample into the luminol reagent stream, and the other incorporated on-line solid-phase extraction of the analyte on an 8-hydroxyquinoline microcolumn. The CL signals from analyses of dissolved iron species (Fe(II) and Fe(III)) with model ligands and organic compounds were examined in high-purity water and seawater. The organic compounds included natural reducing agents (e.g., ascorbic acid), nitrogen sigma-donor/pi-acceptor compounds (e.g., 1,4-dipyridine, protoporphyrin IX), aromatic compounds (e.g., 1,4-dihydroxybenzene), synthetic iron chelators (e.g., EDTA), and natural iron binding compounds (e.g., desferrioxamine B, ferrichrome A). Fe(II) determinations for both luminol FI-CL methods were affected by submicromolar concentrations of redox-active compounds, strong iron binding ligands (i.e., log K(FeL) > 6), and compounds with electron-donating functional groups in both high-purity water and seawater. This was due to reactions between organic molecules and iron species before and during analysis, rather than chemiluminescence caused by the individual organic compounds. In addition, the effects of strong ligands and size speciation on Fe(II) recoveries from seawater following acidification (pH 2) and reduction (100 microM sodium sulfite) were investigated.