Hydrogen peroxide method intercomparision study in seawater
Document Type
Article
Date of Original Version
10-20-2005
Abstract
Hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) has been studied extensively in the atmosphere and natural waters employing numerous techniques based on absorbance, voltammetry, fluorescence or chemiluminescence. Here we compare the 10-methyl-9-(p-formylphenyl)-acridinium carboxylate trifluoromethanesulfonate chemiluminescent-based (AE-CL) flow-injection analysis (FIA) method to the p-hydroxyphenylacetic acid (POHPAA) batch fluorescence method on 108 paired samples representing a wide range of ocean water types. Over the oceanographically relevant concentration range of 0-250 nM, the two methods are indistinguishable. Since the AE-CL method does not respond to t-butyl hydroperoxide, and no other species including trace metals have been found to cause interferences, it an ideal method for quantification of H 2O2 in natural waters. The POHPAA method, which cannot distinguish organic peroxides from H2O2, was also compared to the HPLC method of Lee et al. [Lee, M., Heikes, B.G., Jacob, D.J., Sachse, G., Anderson, B., 1997. Hydrogen peroxide, organic hydroperoxide, and formaldehyde as primary pollutants from biomass burning. Journal of Geophysical Research, [Atmospheres], 102 (D1), 1301-1309.]. The latter method separates organic peroxides from H2O2 and then measures the concentration of each species. These two methods produced results that are not significantly different from each other, demonstrating that hydrogen peroxide is the only peroxide detected in seawater. It can be inferred from these studies that previous H2O2 measurements made with non-selective techniques measure H2O2 in seawater, and that organic peroxides comprise an insignificant fraction of the total peroxide signal. This study also validates the use of the HPLC method for seawater analyses, as the method was originally developed for atmospheric gas-phase studies. © 2005 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
Publication Title, e.g., Journal
Marine Chemistry
Volume
97
Issue
1-2
Citation/Publisher Attribution
Miller, Gary W., Chris A. Morgan, David J. Kieber, D. W. King, Julie A. Snow, Brian G. Heikes, Kenneth Mopper, and James J. Kiddle. "Hydrogen peroxide method intercomparision study in seawater." Marine Chemistry 97, 1-2 (2005). doi: 10.1016/j.marchem.2005.07.001.