Rapid Quantification of Sodium Dithionite by Ion Chromatography

Sodium dithionite is an oxidizable sulfur oxyanion often employed as a reducing agent in environmental and synthetic chemistry. This industrially important reagent slowly decomposes into a variety of sulfur oxyanions. Thus, a rapid method to assess purity of a given sample is crucial. Despite the importance of this material to the wood pulping and textile industries, a rapid, reliable method to quantify dithionite remains a challenge. Current methodologies require extensive bench-top chemistry. Ion chromatography can provide a simple one-step method that can easily be automated to rapidly and accurately determine the concentration of dithionite. The results are in excellent agreement with those obtained using a multistep iodometric titration.