Precipitation titrations, precision

The scale of operations, accuracy, precision, sensitivity, time, and cost of methods involving precipitation titrations are similar to those described earlier in the chapter for other titrimetric methods. Precipitation titrations also can be extended to the analysis of mixtures, provided that there is a significant difference in the solubilities of the precipitates. Figure 9.43 shows an example of the titration curve for a mixture of % and Ch using Ag+ as a titrant. 

Electrochemical endpoint detection methods provide a number of advantages over classical visual indicators. These methods can be used when visual methods of endpoint detection cannot be employed because of the presence of colored or clouded solutions and in the case of detection of several components in the same solution. They are more precise and accurate. In particular, such methods provide increased sensitivity and are often amenable to automation. Electrochemical methods of endpoint detection are applicable to most oxidation-reduction, acid-base, and precipitation titrations, and to many complex-ation titrations. The only necessary condition is that either the titrant or the species being titrated must give some type of electrochemical response that is indicative of the concentration of the species. 

In this chapter, we describe the quantitative effects of acidity and complex-ation in precipitation equilibria and discuss precipitation titrations using silver nitrate and barium nitrate titrants with different kinds of indicators and their theory. You should review fundamental precipitation equilibria described in Chapter 10. Most ionic analytes, especially inorganic anions, e conveniently determined using ion chromatography (Chapter 21), but for high concentrations more precise determinations can be made by precipitation titration when applicable. 

Table 1 shows some data for commercially available electrodes and a selection of interesting analytical uses of solid ISEs. The majority of applications has been the determination of fluoride in many kinds of samples. Chloride determinations are next in order of importance. The precision of direct determinations is usually limited to 1-10% rsd. The ruggedness of solid ISEs makes them suitable for online monitoring applications. If monitoring is based on direct measurement frequent recalibrations may be necessary and the temperature compensation may not always be straightforward. Monitors can also be based on titration reactions in this case less problem may be encountered but more sophisticated hardware will be necessary. Solid ISEs can also be used in different solvents. This may be useful, e.g., in precipitation titrations. 

Iodine was determined by an iodometric titration adapted from White and Secor.(3) Instead of the normal Carius combustion, iodide was separated from the samples either by slurrying in 6M NaOH, or by stirring the sample with liquid sodium-potassium (NaK) alloy, followed by dissolving excess NaK in ethanol. Precipitated plutonium hydroxides were filtered. Iodine was determined in the filtrate by bromine oxidation to iodate in an acetate buffer solution, destruction of the excess bromine with formic acid, acidifying with SO, addition of excess KI solution, and titrating the liberated iodine with standard sodium thiosulfate. The precision of the iodine determination is estimated to be about 5% of the measured value, principally due to incomplete extraction of iodine from the sample. 

A prerequisite for a precise and accurate titration is the reproducible identification of an end point which either coincides with the stoichiometric point of the reaction or bears a fixed and measurable relation to it. An end point may be located either by monitoring a property of the titrand which is removed when the stoichiometric point is passed, or a property which can be readily observed when a small excess of the titrant has been added. The most common processes observed in end-point detection are change of colour change of electrical cell potential change of electrical conductivity precipitation or flocculation. (Electrochemical methods are discussed in Chapter 6 precipitation indicators find only limited use.)... 

Common chemical titrations include acid-base, oxidation-reduction, precipitation, and complexometric analysis. The basic concepts underlying all titration are illustrated by classic acid-base titrations. A known amount of acid is placed in a flask and an indicator added. The indicator is a compound whose color depends on the pH of its environment. A solution of base of precisely known concentration (referred to as the titrant) is then added to the acid until all of the acid has just been reacted, causing the pH of the solution to increase and the color of the indicator to change. The volume of the base required to get to this point in the titration is known as the end point of the titration. The concentration of the acid present in the original solution can be calculated from the volume of base needed to reach the end point and the known concentration of the base. 

Potentiometric titration is actually a form of the multiple known subtraction method. The main advantage of titration procedures, similar to multiple addition techniques in general, is the improved precision, especially at high determinand concentrations. ISEs are suitable for end-point indication in all combination titrations (acid-base, precipitation, complexometric), provided that either the titrand or the titrant is sensed by an ISE. If both the titrant and the titrand are electro-inactive, an electrometric indicator must be added (for example Fe ion can be titrated with EDTA using the fluoride ISE when a small amount of fluoride is added to the sample solution [126]). 

In a definitive series of experimental investigations H. N. Wilson showed that the quinolinium salt, (C isNJ fPCV I2M0O3]3- was anhydrous, contained exactly 12 moles of molybdenum trioxide per mole of phosphate, that the precipitate had a negligible solubility and could be dried to constant weight in two hours at 105 °C. This precipitate also lent itself to a precise alkalimetric titration. In the presence of citric acid interference by silica was inhibited so that the method was admirably suitable for the analysis of basic slags or fertilizers.34... 

As it was for acid-base titrations, the concept of relative precision (Section 3-7) is useful for comparing the steepness of titration curves in the immediate vicinity of the end point. For the formation of a precipitate of symmetrical charge type (m = n), with activity coefficients assumed to be unity. 

For precipitates of asymmetrical charge types, such as MA2 and MjA, expressions for relative precision are more complicated. Christopherson, excluding the effect of dilution, indicated that the relative titration error, defined by ( inflection — V)IV (where inflection is the titrant volume to the inflection point and V is the equivalence-point volume), is generally... 

Puschel and Stefanac ° use alkaline hydrogen peroxide in the oxygen flask method to oxidize arsenic to arsenate. The arsenate is titrated directly with standard lead nitrate solution with 4-(2-pyridylazo) resorcinol or 8-hydroxy-7-(4-sulpho-l-naphthylazo) quino-line-5-sulphonic acid as indicator. Phosphorus interferes in this method. The precision at the 99% confidence limit is within 0.67% for a 3-mg sample. In another variation, Stefanac used sodium acetate as the absorbing liquid, and arsenite and arsenate are precipitated with silver nitrate. The precipitate is dissolved in potassium nickel cyanide (K2Ni(CN)4) solution and the displaced nickel is titrated with EDTA solution, with murexide as indicator. The average error is within + 0.19% for a 3-mg sample. Halogens and phosphate interfere in the procedure. 

An absolute method is based on stoichiometric chemical reactions such as titrations (acid/base, redox, precipitation and chelometry, coulometry, voltammetry). Methods that are accepted or developed by official laboratories are usually accurate, precise and used by other laboratories throughout the world. A significant number of methods for atomic spectroscopy also fall into these categories and are readily available from the appropriate literature. Developed and accepted methods give confidence in reporting of results because all the teething problems and pitfalls associated with that method would have been observed and noted by other users. Standards must be as close as possible to the... 

Preparation of Hydrogel Arylsulfonyl Carbamates. To a solution of hydrogel (1-4.0 g) in dry pyridine (20-40 mL) was added eitherp-toluenesulfonyl Isocyanate (pTSI), 3.0 g, or p-nitro-benzenesulfonyl Isocyanate (p-NBSI), 0.5-3.0 g and the mixture was heated at 70 under nitrogen for 4 hr. The adduct was isolated by precipitation in benzene or ethanol. Repreclpltatlon from acetone or DMF yielded the desired products, IR (film) 3170 cm (-NH), 1530 cm" (-NO2), 1340, 1180 cm" (-SOj). The precise degree of substitution was determined by non-aqueous titration (Table II). 

Titrimetric luminescence methods record changes in the indicator emission of radiation during titration. This change is noted visually or by instruments normally used in luminescence analysis. Most luminescence indicators are complex organic compounds which are classified into fluorescent and chemiluminescent, compounds according to the type of emission of radiation. As in titrimetry with adsorption of colored indicators, luminescence titration makes use of acid-base, precipitation, redox, and complexation reactions. Unlike color reactions, luminescence indicators enable the determination of ions in turbid or colored media and permit the detection limit to be lowered by a factor of nearly one thousand. In comparison with direct luminescence determination, the luminescence titrimetric method is more precise. 

In principle one could use the break points in the titration curve as approximations of the equivalence points, although these points do not quite coincide with the true equivalence points moreover, co-precipitation (if not suppressed) often leads to a blurring of those points. At any rate, it is usually a better practice to avoid reliance on single points in a titration curves for the precise determination of the equivalence volumes, because such single readings are inherently rather vulnerable to experimental uncertainty. 

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