Identification of organic acids in bayer liquors by GC-MS: a comparison using butylation and methylation

Two well known derivatization methods, butylation and methylation, are compared by gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS) to identify organic acids in Bayer liquors. These two derivatization methods should be combined together for the determination of the carboxylic acids. Twenty-four organic acids are identified by GC-MS and 13 organic acids are firstly found in Bayer liquors. The retention times and the carbon number of these seven n-dicarboxylic acids (C(4)-C(10)) are fit into the linear relationship in Microsoft Excel.