Determination of chloride by displacement of hydrogen cyanide from mercury(II) cyanide

A method, based on the passivity of mercury(II) cyanide in dilute sulphuric acid and its reaction with hydrochloric acid to produce hydrogen cyanide, has been developed for the determination of small amounts of chloride. Hydrogen cyanide, distilled from a mercury(II) cyanide-halide-dilute sulphuric acid system is found by iodometric measurement to be directly proportional to the amount of chloride or bromide and of hydrogen ion in acids such as sulphuric acid. A linear correlation also holds for iodide but the stoichiometry is different, the titration values being about three times larger than expected. By conversion of the cyanide into a dye by means of the pyridine-pyrazolone reagent, 0.014-0.43 mug ml chloride concentrations have been determined. The method is also applicable to bromide and sulphuric acid in small amounts but not to fluoride and iodide. Results are reproducible to within +/-2%.     

Determination of sulphide by anion-exchange with lead iodate

A quick anion-exchange reaction, suitable for the determination of sulphide, has been found to occur on stirring a suspension of lead iodate (solubility product, K(s0) = 1.2 x 10(-13)) with sulphide solution at pH 5-8. After removal of the precipitates of lead iodate and lead sulphide (K(s0) = 3.4 x 10(-28)), the iodate released can be determined by its reaction with acidified iodide to give tri-iodide which is either titrated with thiosulphate or measured spectrophotometrically as its blue complex with starch. Chloride, bromide, iodide, fluoride, oxalate, sulphate, thiocyanate and phosphate do not interfere. Thiosulphate, sulphite, nitrite and thiols do not give an anion-exchange reaction but do interfere in the redox reaction of iodate with acidified iodide. However, this is avoided if they are first oxidized with bromine (the liberated iodate remains unaffected before iodometry.     

Iodine cyanide as volumetric oxidant

Iodine cyanide has been developed as an oxidant for the determination of iodide, sulphite, thiosulphate, thiocyanate, arsenic (III), antimony(III), tin(II), mercury(I), iron(II), ascorbic acid and beta-naphthol in dilute aqueous mineral acids, glacial acetic acid and 1:1 acetic acid-acetic anhydride mixture, with visual and potentiometric methods of end-point detection.     

Sequential flow-injection determination of cyanide and weak metal—cyanide complexes with flow-through heterogeneous membrane electrodes

Free cyanide and cyanide present in weak complexes are determined by using two flow- through silver iodide/silver sulphide electrodes with an intervening gas diffusion unit. Under optimal conditions, the linear range is 10^?5?10^?3 mol dm^?3 cyanide, and the relative standard deviations are ca. 2%, with a sampling rate of 20 h^?1. Total cyanide can be determined in the presence of Zn(II), Cu(II) and Cd(II) but results are low with Ni(II), Co(II) or Fe(III) present. Sulphide and thiocyanate must be absent.     

Application of colorimetric end-point to iodate : Procedures in presence of mercuric mercury

In the present investigations colorimetric titrations of arsenic(III), hydrazinc, thiosulphate and thiocyanate have been carried out by iodate procedures in the presence of mercuric ions. A Hilger Spekker absorptiometer unit (H 760) with a blue filter having a maximum transmission in the range of 450–500 mμ was employed for the titrations. Two end-points corresponding, respectively, to the reduction of iodate to iodide and the oxidation of the liberated iodide to iodine monochloride were obtained in HCl medium, the quantitative reduction of iodate to iodide being facilitated by the presence of mercuric ions. A study of the effect of the variation of acidity and dilution of the solution was carried out for both the end-points. As little as 5 mg of the reductants, could be determined with a precision of about 97% to 98%.     

Analytical applications of ternary complexes-V Indirect spectrophotometric determination of cyanide

An indirect spectrophotometric method is proposed for the determination of cyanide down to 0.2 ppm. It is based on the fact that cyanide prevents the formation of the strongly absorbing ternary complex between silver(I), 1,10-phenanthroline and Bromopyrogallol Red in nearly neutral aqueous solution. Among 17 cations examined, only mercury(II) could not be tolerated. Zinc, cadmium and cobalt interfered only when present in large amounts. A 1000-fold molar excess (over cyanide) of 14 anions can also be tolerated. Bromide, iodide and thiocyanate interference is overcome by addition of lead nitrate, ammonium sulphate and barium nitrate, followed by centrifugation.     

Bromine cyanide as titrimetric oxidant in non-aqueous media

Bromine cyanide has been used for the potentiometric determination of sulphide, sulphite, thiocyanate, iodide, tin(II), arsenic(III),hydrazine hydrate, phenylhydrazine, 1,1-methylphenyldrazine and chloralhydrazine in glacial acetic acid and 1 : 1 acetic acid-acetic anhydride mixture, of thiourea, ethylthiourea, isopropylthiourea, benzylthiourea, alpha-phenylthiourea and o-tolythiourea in methanol, and of sodium methyl-, ethyl-,dimethyl-, diehtyl- and isopropyldithiocarbamates in ehtanol and acetonitrile media. The behaviour of bromine cyanide in these non- aqueous solvents has been compared with its behaviour in aqueous medium and with that of iodine cyanide in these non-aqueous solvents.     

Titrimetric determination of silver,chloride and bromide in glasses

Titrimetric methods are described for the determination of total silver, free silver or free halide (Cl, Br and I), and bromide (or iodide) in glasses. Total silver is titrated potentiometrically with standard bromide solution after hydrofluoric—sulfuric acid sample decomposition followed by sodium hydrogensulfate fusion for volatilizing hydrogen halide. Free silver is determined similarly on a separate sample without the fusion step. For glasses containing excess of halide, free halide is titrated potentiometrically with standard silver(I) solution after dissolution of the sample in ice-cold hydrofluoric—nitric acid. Total bromide (or iodide) is determined by iodometric titration after oxidation to bromate (or iodate) with hypochlorite solution. The methods have been applied to a wide range of complex glass compositions and results are compared with values obtained by controlled-potential coulometry and x-ray fluorescence analysis.     

Behavior of mercury(II) salts in electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry : Application to the Determination of Thiosulfate

Mercury(II) salts have different decomposition temperatures in a graphite tube or tantalum coil used for electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry. The nitrate, perchlorate and acetate were spontaneously reduced to mercury vapor at room temperature, but the thiosulfate, sulfide, cyanide and bromide were reduced only on heating. Chloride and thiocyanate in a graphite furnace and iodide in a tantalum coil did not give mercury absorbance on heating. Thiosulfate (1–10 × 10^?6 M) was determined by addition to mercury(II) nitrate in acetate buffer, removing the response from the excess mercury(II) nitrate by drying below 100° C in the graphite furnace, and measuring the mercury absorbance on heating, which was proportional to the thiosulfate concentration.     

Indirect spectrophotometric determination of chloride by solvent extraction as tris(1,10-phenanthroline)iron(II) thiocyanate

An indirect spectrophotometric method for the determination of small amounts of chloride in fresh waters is described. Chloride ions react with mercury(II) thiocyanate to liberate thiocyanate ions, which can be selectively extracted into nitrobenzene with tris(1,10-phenanthroline)iron(II) chelate cations. The red color (516 nm) of the organic phase measured against a reagent blank is proportional to the initial concentration of chloride ions in the aqueous phase. At least an equimolar amount of tris(1,10-phenanthroline)iron(II) chelate and a 3-fold amount of mercury(II) thiocyanate are needed; the optimal pH range is 1.5–3.5. Beer's law is obeyed over the concentration range of 0.8–5.6 10^-5 M of chloride. The color stability and the apparent sensitivity are better than those of the mercury(II) thiocyanate-iron(III) method. Large amounts of sulphate, phosphate, fluoride, carbonate, acetate, potassium, sodium, and ammonium ions had negligible or no effect ; bromide, iodide, cyanide, sulphide, and thiocyanate interfere.     

Neue verfahren zur jodometrischen mikrobestimmung von jodid- bzw. Bromidion

The methods described above are based on the fact, that iodide can be determined as iodate on iodometric way after oxidation with freshly prepared chlorine water and after removal of excess of free chlorine by means of potassium cyanide. However oxidation may be carried out by adding of hypobromite the excess of which can be removed by adding of phenol water.Bromide can be transformed to BrCl by means of an excess of chlorine water. BrCl reacts with potassium cyanide under formation of cyanogen bromide and chloride. The excess of free chlorine would be removed as cyanogen chlorine and chloride. The cyanogen bromide formed can be measured on the usual iodometric way.     

Microchemical determination of lodate and iodide in sea waters by flow injection analysis

A flow injection analysis method for iodate and iodide in sea water is described. The system involves spectrophotometric detection based on the catalytic, fading effect of either iodate or iodide on the indicator reaction of iron (III) thiocyanate and nitrite. With and without an anion-exchange column in the flow conduit, the system allows the determination of iodate and total iodine, respectively; iodide can be found by difference. Both iodate-iodine and total iodine can be determined in the range 0.75 to 150 g/1 on the sea water basis with analysis times of 20 min for iodate-iodine and 9 min for total iodine. The RSDs are within 1.3% for both iodate and iodide. Results are presented for the determination of iodate and iodide in sea waters and some brines associated with natural methane gas evolution.     

Spectrophotometric determination of bromide (and iodide) in a flow system after oxidation by peroxodisulphate

The peroxodisulphate method for the determination of bromide has been modified. A flow-injection system for the spectrophotometric finish has been developed and the size of the ion-exchange column in the preconcentration step has been scaled down. The sum of bromate and iodate produced in the oxidation is determined by treating the oxidized sample with iodide in hydrochloric acid. The iodate is separately determined by applying the reaction in acetic acid. The working range of the spectrophotometric finish is 1-15muM and the limit of determination (10 sigma) is 0.7muM for iodate and for iodate plus bromate. The enrichment factor in the preconcentration step is 50, yielding a limit of determination of 15nM for bromide in natural waters. Eighteen samples of water from the Baltic, with salinity ranging from 3 to 33%. have been analysed. A Br/Cl ratio of (1.53 +/- 0.02) x 10(-3) was found. A comparative study of the original and the new preconcentration step has been made with three river waters, rich in humic substances. The results agreed within +/- 1. 5%.     

Some neutral three-coordinate complexes of mercury(II) halides and pseudohalides with N-methylnicotinamide

Coordination compounds of mercury(II) chloride, bromide, cyanide and thiocyanate with N-methylnicotinamide, a potentially bidentate ligand, have been prepared. The complexesisolated have 1∶1 (metal:ligand)stoichiometry. Molecular weight measurements in molten camphor indicate that the mercury (II) chloride and bromide complexes are monomeric. Based on conductance values, molecular weight determinations and infrared spectral data, it is inferred that in the solid state in all these complexes the metal ion has a coordination number three and is bonded to the N-methylnicotinamide via its pyridine ring nitrogen, and is terminally bonded to the halogen/pseudohalogens.     

Headspace single-drop microextraction and cuvetteless microspectrophotometry for the selective determination of free and total cyanide involving reaction with ninhydrin

Headspace single-drop microextraction has been used for the determination of cyanide with ninhydrin in combination with fibre-optic-based cuvetteless microspectrophotometry which accommodates sample volume of 1 μL placed between the two ends of optical fibres, and has been found to avoid salient drawbacks of batch methods. This method involved hydrocyanic acid formation in a closed vial, and simultaneous extraction and reaction with 2 μL drop of ninhydrin in carbonate medium suspended at the tip of a microsyringe needle held in the headspace of the acidified sample solution. The method was linear in range 0.025-0.5 mg L⁻¹ of cyanide. The headspace reaction was free from the interference of substances, e.g., thiocyanate, hydrazine sulphate, hydroxylammonium chloride and ascorbic acid. Sulphide was masked by cadmium sulphate, nitrite by sulphamic acid, sulphite by N-ethylmaleimide, and halogens by ascorbic acid. The limit of detection was found to be 4.3 μg L⁻¹ of cyanide which was comparable to existing most sensitive methods for cyanide. However, the present method is far more simple. The method was applied to acid-labile and metal cyanides complexes by treatment with sulphide when metal sulphides were precipitated setting cyanide ion free, and to iron(II) and (III) cyanide complexes by their decomposition with mercury(II), the mercury(II) cyanide formed was then determined. These pre-treatment methods avoided cumbersome pre-separation of cyanide by methods such as distillation or gas diffusion. The overall recovery of cyanide in diverse samples was 97% with RSD of 3.9%.     

Promoting effect of iodide on the hexacyanomanganate(IV)-arsenic(III) redox reaction, for kinetic determination of iodide

The rate of the reaction between hexacyanomanganate(IV) and arsenic(III) in an acid medium is strongly accelerated by iodide. The reaction kinetics indicates that the iodide activity decreases throughout the reaction, probably because manganese(IV) oxidizes iodide to iodate (an inactive form). This behaviour is defined as promotion, rather than catalysis, and this rate-modifying effect has been used to determine iodide by a kinetic method. A linear calibration plot was obtained by a two-point fixed-time procedure. A detection limit of 0.2 ng/ml, a quantification limit of 0.6 ng/ml and relative standard deviations of 5.5 and 13% for the 6.7 and 0.6 ng/ml levels respectively have been found. Positive kinetic interferences from osmium(VIII) and iodate have been observed, and copper(II), silver(I) and mercury(II) inhibit the iodide activity by precipitaton. The method has been applied to determination of iodide in sodium arsenite (reagent grade) and table salt. The method has been validated by recovery experiments.     

Oxidation of micro or trace amounts of bromide to bromate by peroxodisulphate before their iodometric determination by titration or spectrophotometry

The optimum conditions for the oxidation of bromide to bromate by peroxodisulphate at 120 degrees as well as for the decomposition of the excess of oxidant have been determined. The predicted advantages of this oxidizing agent, viz. minimal blanks and destruction of small amounts of interfering organic matter and reducing substances, were confirmed. The bromate was determined iodometrically either by titration with thiosulphate or by spectrophotometry in absence of oxygen at 355 nm. The titrimetric finish applied to 0.8-8 micromole of bromide gave a mean yield of 100.0%, s = 6 nmole. The spectrophotometric finish applied to 0.05-0.25 micromole of bromide gave a mean yield of 98.9%, s = 1.1 nmole. Interfering amounts of iodide present in the sample and oxidized to iodate can be corrected for by making use of the pH-dependence of the reaction of iodide with bromate and iodate.     

Simultaneous determinationof cyanide and thiocyanate by the pyridine/barbituric acid method after diffusion through a microporous membrane

A flow-injection system for the simultaneous determinationof cyanide and thiocyanate is described. A microporous tubular PTFE membrane module with an outer casing was constructed and included inthe system. Cyanide and thiocyanate diffuse thourgh the membrane wall from the phosphoric acid donor stream to a phosphate or carbonate buffer acceptor stream. Percentage transference of cyanide and thiocyanate were 68% and 59%, respectively, at pH 6.0. At pH 8.1, the percentage transference of cyanide was only 19%. The transferred cyanide and thiocyanate are determined by a pyridine/barbituric acid method. Thiocyanate reacts slowly with chloramine-T at pH 8.1, so that cyanide can be determined without interference from thiocyanate. Total cyanide and thiocyanate are determined at pH 6.0. The detection limits (S/N = 3) are 0.3 μM cyanide and 0.2 μM thiocyanate at pH 6.0, and 5 μM cyanide at pH 8.1. A mechanism for the transference thourgh the membrane is discussed. Bromine interferes with the determination of cyanide and thiocyanate at both pH 6.0 and 8.1. Hexacyanoferrate(II) and hexacyanoferrate(III) interfere at pH 8.1, but not at pH 6.0. Cyanate, oxaloacetate, oxalate, tartrate, albumin, globulin and lysozyme do not interfere.     

Indirect spectrophotometric determination of thiocyanate by extraction as bisthiocyanatobisquinolinemercury(II) complex and its ligand substitution reaction with dithizone

Thiocyanate forms with mercury(II) in the presence of quinoline a mixed-ligand mercury(II) complex, bisthiocyanatobisquinolinemercury(II), and is extracted into chloroform. This mixed-ligand complex is treated with dithizone and forms the bisdithizonatomercury(II) complex. Maximum and constant absorbance of the dithizone complex is obtained when thiocyanate is extracted at pH 5.1-6.5, and Beer's law is obeyed at 498 nm, where the difference in absorbance between the dithizone complex and dithizone is largest. Chloride, bromide, iodide, cyanide and large amounts of ammonium and copper(II) ions interfere.     

Determination of cyanide in the pure state and in mixtures with organic halosulfonamides

Eight aryl halosulfonamides, both mono and dihalo compounds, have been prepared and characterized by recording their IR and NMR spectra and successfully used for determining cyanide in solution. The behavior of these compounds as oxidimetric analytical reagents toward CN⁻ ion in metal salts and complexes has been investigated and general procedures for its estimation in the pure state, in the presence of halide or in cyanide and thiocyanate mixtures, have been proposed. The same procedures are also useful for computing the number of cyanide ligands present in the complexes. The results are reproducible and compare favorably with the argentometric method. The oxidation involves a two-electron change per CN⁻ ion.