An Improved Procedure for Wet Oxidation of the 14C NBS Oxalic Acid Standard

Abstract

An improved procedure for wet combustion of 14C NBS oxalic acid standard has been devised which gives consistent high carbon yields and average delta-13C values of -19.1 per mil. The principal cause of fractionation in earlier attempts to prepare CO2 by the wet oxidation method was the inexact nature of the end-point. The new procedure employs a chocolate-brown end-point by adding 5ml more of the sulfuric acid-potassium permanganate solution after the initial reddish brown end-point is reached. The sulfuric acid-potassium permanganate solution is added to the NBS oxalic acid in a steady drop-wise flow, heat is applied to the generating apparatus, and a cycling technique is utilized to collect the CO2. Fifteen samples of the NBS oxalic acid were processed. The per cent carbon yields range from 98.8 to 100.9% with an average of 99.7% and an average delta-13C of -19.12 per mil. The results obtained by this procedure are much more consistent than previous results obtained in several laboratories by direct combustion.