Diaphragm-free cell for trace determination of water based on the karl Fischer reaction using continuous coulometric titration.

A new type of diaphragm-free coulometric cell for continuous coulometric Karl Fischer titrations of water in the range 0.1-1000 μg is described. The relative standard deviation obtained for titrations of 1 μg amounts of water was typically 1%. The background due to diffusion of water from the air was normally in the range 0.3-0.9 μg of water min(-1) depending on environmental humidity. The variation in the background was normally ±0.01 μg min(-1). The construction makes it possible, at any time in a sequence of titrations, to renew the catholyte by means of a Teflon plunger inside the cathode compartment. In this way, the interference effects caused by oxidizable reduction products of methyl sulfite which are formed at the cathode can be controlled in a very simple way. These products are rapidly eliminated by means of a normal titration before a new titration starts. The need for this draining step differs depending on the type of reagent used. The coulometric titration system makes use of true potentiometric end-point detection, and this principle makes it possible to control the iodine level at the end-point at much lower levels as compared with commercial instrumentation. The analytical advantages gained by this option are demonstrated for the determination of water in ethylenediamine, a task which was found to be impossible when using end-point concentrations in the range (3-7) × 10(-5) M, which is typical for the bipotentiometric indicating system used in commercial instruments. Recovery rates in the range 100-102% were obtained and are shown to be dependent on the type of reagent used. The most accurate results were obtained for an imidazole-buffered methanolic reagent in which the concentration of sulfur dioxide was kept relatively low (0.10 M). The diaphragm-free cell described was shown to be compatible with all of the commercial reagents (designed for coulometry) investigated, including the well-known Hydranal products Coulomat A, AK, AG, AG-H, and AD.