TRACE DETERMINATION OF STRONG ACIDS IN NITRO PLASTICIZERS

A titration method was applied to the trace determination of strong ac ids in a variety of nitro plasticizers. The analyses were performed in acetonitrile using an automatic titrator and a calomel combined glass electrode for non-aqueous solutions. A dilute solution of sodium hydr oxide (5.00 X 10(-4) M) in methanol was used as the titrant. The sensi tivity and precision of the method were greatly increased by the addit ion of a known volume of dilute nitric acid to the solvent in which th e titrations were performed. Very low acid content values were detecte d in the plasticizers with the experimental conditions used. The detec tion limit was found to be 0.001 mg g(-1) of NaOH in the sample (0.000 025 m equiv. g(-1)) and the measured acid content values were reprodu cible.