Acid-base titrations in nonaqueous solvents Analysis of dimethyl sulphate

A nonaqueous titrimetric procedure was developed for the determination of the dimethyl sulphate, methyl hydrogen sulphate and sulphuric acid content of dimethyl sulphate samples. Methyl hydrogen sulphate and sulphuric acid are determined by a differentiating potentiometric titration in pyridine with tributylethylammonium hydroxide. Pyridine converts the dimethyl sulphate into the weakly acidic methylpyridinium methyl sulphate which does not interfere in the titration. Dimethyl sulphate is determined by reacting it with an excess of 2-dimethylaminoethanol and titrating the excess with perchloric acid. Precision and recovery data for commercial samples of dimethyl sulphate are presented.