HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Tabatabai, M. A. Articles by Chae, Y. M. Search for Related Content PubMed Articles by Tabatabai, M. A. Articles by Chae, Y. M. Agricola Articles by Tabatabai, M. A. Articles by Chae, Y. M.

Alkaline Oxidation Method for Determination of Total Sulfur in Plant Materials¹

Current wet digestion methods available for determination of total S in plant materials are unsafe and usually give inaccurate results.

A rapid and precise method of determining total S in plant materials has been developed. The plant sample is heated with NaOBr solution to oxidize plant S compounds to sulfate, and the sulfate thus formed is reduced to H₂S by a modified Johnson-Nishita procedure and determined colorimetrically as methylene blue. Its results for total Sare generally higher than those obtained by the HCIO₄-digestion method, suggesting possible loss of S, as gases, or incomplete oxidation of S during digestion of plant samples with HCIO₄. In addition to being safe, digestion of plant samples with NaOBr is more rapid than with HCIO₄. By using a bank of 10 distillation units, a single operator can perform 60 analyses in a normal working day.

Key Words: Sodium hypobromite • Perchloric acid digestion • Methylene blue method

² Professor and post doctoral research associate, respectively, Dep. of Agronomy, Iowa State Univ., Ames, IA 50011.

Received for publication May 11, 1981.