An Introductory Course of Quantitative Chemical Analysis Part 8

PREPARATION OF A STANDARD SOLUTION

!Approximate Strength 0.1 N!

A study of the reactions given above which represent the oxidation of ferrous compounds by pota.s.sium permanganate, shows that there are 2 molecules of KMnO_{4} and 10 molecules of FeSO_{4} on the left-hand side, and 2 molecules of MnSO_{4} and 5 molecules of Fe_{2}(SO_{4})_{5} on the right-hand side. Considering only these compounds, and writing the formulas in such a way as to show the oxides of the elements in each, the equation becomes:

K_{2}O.Mn_{2}O_{7} + 10(FeO.SO_{3}) --> K_{2}O.SO_{3} + 2(MnO.SO_{3}) + 5(Fe_{2}O_{3}.3SO_{3}).

From this it appears that two molecules of KMnO_{4} (or 316.0 grams) have given up five atoms (or 80 grams) of oxygen to oxidize the ferrous compound. Since 8 grams of oxygen is the basis of normal oxidizing solutions and 80 grams of oxygen are supplied by 316.0 grams of KMnO_{4}, the normal solution of the permanganate should contain, per liter, 316.0/10 grams, or 31.60 grams (Note 1).

The preparation of an approximately tenth-normal solution of the reagent may be carried out as follows:

PROCEDURE.--Dissolve about 3.25 grams of pota.s.sium permanganate crystals in approximately 1000 cc. of distilled water in a large beaker, or ca.s.serole. Heat slowly and when the crystals have dissolved, boil the solution for 10-15 minutes. Cover the solution with a watch-gla.s.s; allow it to stand until cool, or preferably over night. Filter the solution through a layer of asbestos. Transfer the filtrate to a liter bottle and mix thoroughly (Note 2).

[Note 1: The reactions given on page 61 are those which take place in the presence of an excess of acid. In neutral solutions the reduction of the permanganate is less complete, and, under these conditions, two gram-molecular weights of KMnO_{4} will furnish only 48 grams of oxygen. A normal solution for use under these conditions should, therefore, contain 316.0/6 grams, or 52.66 grams.]

[Note 2: Pota.s.sium permanganate solutions are not usually stable for long periods, and change more rapidly when first prepared than after standing some days. This change is probably caused by interaction with the organic matter contained in all distilled water, except that redistilled from an alkaline permanganate solution. The solutions should be protected from light and heat as far as possible, since both induce decomposition with a deposition of manganese dioxide, and it has been shown that decomposition proceeds with considerable rapidity, with the evolution of oxygen, after the dioxide has begun to form. As commercial samples of the permanganate are likely to be contaminated by the dioxide, it is advisable to boil and filter solutions through asbestos before standardization, as prescribed above. Such solutions are relatively stable.]

COMPARISON OF PERMANGANATE AND FERROUS SOLUTIONS

PROCEDURE.--Fill a gla.s.s-stoppered burette with the permanganate solution, observing the usual precautions, and fill a second burette with the ferrous sulphate solution prepared for use with the pota.s.sium b.i.+.c.hromate. The permanganate solution cannot be used in burettes with rubber tips, as a reduction takes place upon contact with the rubber.

The solution has so deep a color that the lower line of the meniscus cannot be detected; readings must therefore be made from the upper edge. Run out into a beaker about 40 cc. of the ferrous solution, dilute to about 100 cc., add 10 cc. of dilute sulphuric acid, and run in the permanganate solution to a slight permanent pink. Repeat, until the ratio of the two solutions is satisfactorily established.

STANDARDIZATION OF A POTa.s.sIUM PERMANGANATE SOLUTION

!Selection of a Standard!

Commercial pota.s.sium permanganate is rarely sufficiently pure to admit of its direct weighing as a standard. On this account, and because of the uncertainties as to the permanence of its solutions, it is advisable to standardize them against substances of known value. Those in most common use are iron wire, ferrous ammonium sulphate, sodium oxalate, oxalic acid, and some other derivatives of oxalic acid.

With the exception of sodium oxalate, these all contain water of crystallization which may be lost on standing. They should, therefore, be freshly prepared, and with great care. At present, sodium oxalate is considered to be one of the most satisfactory standards.

!Method A!

!Iron Standards!

The standardization processes employed when iron or its compounds are selected as standards differ from those applicable in connection with oxalate standards. The procedure which immediately follows is that in use with iron standards.

As in the case of the b.i.+.c.hromate process, it is necessary to reduce the iron completely to the ferrous condition before t.i.tration. The reducing agents available are zinc, sulphurous acid, or sulphureted hydrogen. Stannous chloride may also be used when the t.i.tration is made in the presence of hydrochloric acid. Since the excess of both the gaseous reducing agents can only be expelled by boiling, with consequent uncertainty regarding both the removal of the excess and the reoxidation of the iron, zinc or stannous chlorides are the most satisfactory agents. For prompt and complete reduction it is essential that the iron solution should be brought into ultimate contact with the zinc. This is brought about by the use of a modified Jones reductor, as shown in Figure 1. This reductor is a standard apparatus and is used in other quant.i.tative processes.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 1]

The tube A has an inside diameter of 18 mm. and is 300 mm. long; the small tube has an inside diameter of 6 mm. and extends 100 mm. below the stopc.o.c.k. At the base of the tube A are placed some pieces of broken gla.s.s or porcelain, covered by a plug of gla.s.s wool about 8 mm.

thick, and upon this is placed a thin layer of asbestos, such as is used for Gooch filters, 1 mm. thick. The tube is then filled with the amalgamated zinc (Note 1) to within 50 mm. of the top, and on the zinc is placed a plug of gla.s.s wool. If the top of the tube is not already shaped like the mouth of a thistle-tube (B), a 60 mm. funnel is fitted into the tube with a rubber stopper and the reductor is connected with a suction bottle, F. The bottle D is a safety bottle to prevent contamination of the solution by water from the pump. After preparation for use, or when left standing, the tube A should be filled with water, to prevent clogging of the zinc.

[Note 1: The use of fine zinc in the reductor is not necessary and tends to clog the tube. Particles which will pa.s.s a 10-mesh sieve, but are retained by one of 20 meshes to the inch, are most satisfactory.

The zinc can be amalgamated by stirring or shaking it in a mixture of 25 cc. of normal mercuric chloride solution, 25 cc. of hydrochloric acid (sp. gr. 1.12) and 250 cc. of water for two minutes. The solution should then be poured off and the zinc thoroughly washed. It is then ready for bottling and preservation under water. A small quant.i.ty of gla.s.s wool is placed in the neck of the funnel to hold back foreign material when the reductor is in use.]

STANDARDIZATION

PROCEDURE.--Weigh out into Erlenmeyer flasks two portions of iron wire of about 0.25 gram each. Dissolve these in hot dilute sulphuric acid (5 cc. of concentrated acid and 100 cc. of water), using a covered flask to avoid loss by spattering. Boil the solution for two or three minutes after the iron has dissolved to remove any volatile hydrocarbons. Meanwhile prepare the reductor for use as follows: Connect the vacuum bottle with the suction pump and pour into the funnel at the top warm, dilute sulphuric acid, prepared by adding 5 cc. of concentrated sulphuric acid to 100 cc. of distilled water. See that the stopc.o.c.k (C) is open far enough to allow the acid to run through slowly. Continue to pour in acid until 200 cc. have pa.s.sed through, then close the stopc.o.c.k !while a small quant.i.ty of liquid is still left in the funnel!. Discard the filtrate, and again pa.s.s through 100 cc. of the warm, dilute acid. Test this with the permanganate solution. A single drop should color it permanently; if it does not, repeat the was.h.i.+ng, until a.s.sured that the zinc is not contaminated with appreciable quant.i.ties of reducing substances. Be sure that no air enters the reductor (Note 1).

Pour the iron solution while hot (but not boiling) through the reductor at a rate not exceeding 50 cc. per minute (Notes 2 and 3).

Wash out the beaker with dilute sulphuric acid, and follow the iron solution without interruption with 175 cc. of the warm acid and finally with 75 cc. of distilled water, leaving the funnel partially filled. Remove the filter bottle and cool the solution quickly under the water tap (Note 4), avoiding unnecessary exposure to the oxygen of the air. Add 10 cc. of dilute sulphuric acid and t.i.trate to a faint pink with the permanganate solution, adding it directly to the contents of the vacuum flask. Should the end-point be overstepped, the ferrous sulphate solution may be added.

From the volume of the solution required to oxidize the iron in the wire, calculate the relation to the normal of the permanganate solution. The duplicate results should be concordant within two parts in one thousand.

[Note 1: The funnel of the reductor must never be allowed to empty.

If it is left partially filled with water the reductor is ready for subsequent use after a very little was.h.i.+ng; but a preliminary test is always necessary to safeguard against error.

If more than a small drop of permanganate solution is required to color 100 cc. of the dilute acid after the reductor is well washed, an allowance must be made for the iron in the zinc. !Great care! must be used to prevent the access of air to the reductor after it has been washed out ready for use. If air enters, hydrogen peroxide forms, which reacts with the permanganate, and the results are worthless.]

[Note 2: The iron is reduced to the ferrous condition by contact with the zinc. The active agent may be considered to be !nascent! hydrogen, and it must be borne in mind that the visible bubbles are produced by molecular hydrogen, which is without appreciable effect upon ferric iron.

The rate at which the iron solution pa.s.ses through the zinc should not exceed that prescribed, but the rate may be increased somewhat when the wash-water is added. It is well to allow the iron solution to run nearly, but not entirely, out of the funnel before the wash-water is added. If it is necessary to interrupt the process, the complete emptying of the funnel can always be avoided by closing the stopc.o.c.k.

It is also possible to reduce the iron by treatment with zinc in a flask from which air is excluded. The zinc must be present in excess of the quant.i.ty necessary to reduce the iron and is finally completely dissolved. This method is, however, less convenient and more tedious than the use of the reductor.]

[Note 3: The dilute sulphuric acid for was.h.i.+ng must be warmed ready for use before the reduction of the iron begins, and it is of the first importance that the volume of acid and of wash-water should be measured, and the volume used should always be the same in the standardizations and all subsequent a.n.a.lyses.]

[Note 4: The end-point is more permanent in cold than hot solutions, possibly because of a slight action of the permanganate upon the manganous sulphate formed during t.i.tration. If the solution turns brown, it is an evidence of insufficient acid, and more should be immediately added. The results are likely to be less accurate in this case, however, as a consequence of secondary reactions between the ferrous iron and the manganese dioxide thrown down. It is wiser to discard such results and repeat the process.]

[Note 5: The pota.s.sium permanganate may, of course, be diluted and brought to an exactly 0.1 N solution from the data here obtained. The percentage of iron in the iron wire must be taken into account in all calculations.]

!Method B!

!Oxalate Standards!

PROCEDURE.--Weigh out two portions of pure sodium oxalate of 0.25-0.3 gram each into beakers of about 600 cc. capacity. Add about 400 cc. of boiling water and 20 cc. of manganous sulphate solution (Note 1).

When the solution of the oxalate is complete, heat the liquid, if necessary, until near its boiling point (70-90C.) and run in the standard permanganate solution drop by drop from a burette, stirring constantly until an end-point is reached (Note 2). Make a blank test with 20 cc. of manganous sulphate solution and a volume of distilled water equal to that of the t.i.trated solution to determine the volume of the permanganate solution required to produce a very slight pink.

Deduct this volume from the amount of permanganate solution used in the t.i.tration.

From the data obtained, calculate the relation of the permanganate solution to the normal. The reaction involved is:

5Na_{2}C_{2}O_{4} + 2KMnO_{4} + 8H_{2}SO_{4} --> 5Na_{2}SO_{4} + K_{2}SO_{4} + 2MnSO_{4} + 10CO_{2} + 8H_{2}O

[Note 1: The manganous sulphate t.i.trating solution is made by dissolving 20 grams of MnSO_{4} in 200 cubic centimeters of water and adding 40 cc. of concentrated sulphuric acid (sp. gr. 1.84) and 40 cc.

or phosphoric acid (85%).]

[Note 2: The reaction between oxalates and permanganates takes place quant.i.tatively only in hot acid solutions. The temperatures must not fall below 70C.]

DETERMINATION OF IRON IN LIMONITE