Assessment of Additives for Nitrogen, Carbon, Hydrogen and Sulfur Determination by Organic Elemental Analysis

 A survey is reported on the use of additives in organic elemental analysis of compounds containing functional groups that may compromise the combustion process. 28 substances containing the following functional groups were selected: organic fluorine, hexafluorophosphate, tetrafluoroborate, tetraphenylborate, sulfonate, phosphine, nitrile, carbide, organometallic. Six additives (powdered silver, silver tungstate with magnesium oxide, silica oxide, tungsten (VI) oxide with magnesium oxide, powdered tin, cerium (IV) oxide) in various sample:additive ratios were assayed. Silver tungstate with magnesium oxide (mixture 1:1, w/w) turned out to be most efficient for the analysis of nitrogen, carbon, hydrogen and sulfur for almost all the compounds assayed. Author for correspondence. Received August 2, 2002; accepted December 12, 2002 Published online May 19, 2003