Mikrobestimmung von Kohlenstoff und Wasserstoff,sowie von 14C,Tritium und Deuterium im Stickstoffstrom

A microanalytical method for the determination of carbon and hydrogen is described. The procedure involves the combustion of the organic substance in a stream of nitrogen and the oxidation of the decomposition products with oxygen. Halogens and sulphur are absorbed by the combustion catalyst (according to Körbl), whereas nitrogen oxides are reduced on a copper surface. The combustion products, CO₂ and H₂O are determined gravimetrically; in the case of radioactive samples they are appropriately absorbed and counted in a liquid scintillation counter. Strongly quenching singly and doubly labelled samples, which cannot be accurately counted even by modification of the counting device, give equally high radioactive yields (75% for ¹⁴C, 30% for ³H), since counting is not influenced by other gaseous impurities. Deuterium is quantitatively determined by measuring the intensity of the OD-signal at 2500 cm^?1 with an infrared spectrometer.