Photometric and Gas-Chromatographic Determination of Hydrogen Peroxide and Peroxybutanoic Acid in Oxidized Butanoic Acid

Procedures were developed for determining hydrogen peroxide and peroxy acids mixed with peroxide compounds of other classes in the oxidation products of butanoic acid with atmospheric oxygen and hydrogen peroxide. Conditions were found for the selective decomposition of hydrogen peroxide with catalase in the presence of an excess of the carboxylic acid deactivating the enzyme. The errors introduced by the acylation of hydrogen peroxide with the carboxylic acid in the course of sample treatment with the enzyme were eliminated by adding diphenyl sulfide or dimethyl sulfoxide, which selectively reduced the peroxy acids. The concentrations of hydrogen peroxide and the peroxy acid were found from the difference between the total concentration of the peroxide compounds before and after treating a sample with catalase and a sulfur-containing reagent by the photometric method using a reagent containing Fe²⁺ ions and N, N-dimethyl-p-phenylenediamine. Peroxy acids were determined by GLC from the yields of the oxidation products of diphenyl sulfide with the peroxy acid (diphenyl sulfoxide and diphenyl sulfones).