Analytical applications of flow injection analysis.

Abstract

The rate of oxidation of copper metal to copper (I) by copper (II) in the presence of organic ligands has been determined for a variety of ligands using a flow injection analysis system to sample the reaction. The results obtained using the FIA sampling method compare favorably with those obtained in eariler work when allyl alcohol was used as the ligand. The mechanism proposed in that earlier work has been shown to be a general mechanism for the oxidation of copper metal in the presence of complexing ligands. It was found that some ligands increase the rate of the reaction beyond the ability of conventional FIA to sample many data points before the reaction reaches equilibrium. A method has been developed that allows for more rapid sampling of the reaction mixture by the FIA system, resulting in overlapping FIA peaks. These overlapping peaks can then be deconvolved by an iterative curve fitting/digital subtraction technique in which each peak in the FIA output is fitted to a model function and subtracted from the output, thus removing its effect on the peak height of subsequent peaks. The iodination of acetylacetone in acidic solution was also studied by the fast injection FIA technique. Iodine was generated coulometrically in the solution containing acetylacetone and hydrochloric acid. By this method, the keto-enol equilibrium constant of acetylacetone was determined over a range of pH's. They ranged from 2.3 x 10⁻⁵ at a pH of 2.63 to 1.8 x 10⁻⁴ at a pH of 4.03. It was also found that the reaction was first order with respect to the acetylacetone concentration.