An evaluation of some simple sulfonic acids as nonaqueous titrants

The simple aliphatic and aromatic sulfonic acids show evidence of possibilities as new titrants in a glacial acetic acid medium. Excellent precision is obtained in potentiometric titrations with both ethane- and methane sulfonic acids with a standard deviation of 0.2%. Benzenemonosulfonic and naphthalenesulfonic acids both give an average precision of 0.4%. In visual titrations with with crystal violet indicator, the color changes at the end-point are very sharp. The chief advantage of these acids as titrants lies in the fact that they dissolve readily in glacial acetic acid and can be titrated to give reproducible results with the glass-calomel electrode system. None of the sulfonic acids tested was as strong a titrant as perchloric acid, but, unlike perchloric acid, they did not form precipitates or gels in the titration with potassium acid phthalate.