1978 Volume 24 Issue 2 Pages 83-88
Ultraviolet (UV) absorption characteristics in various solvents of white phosphorus was studied. White phosphorus in hexane showed a peculiar absorption band which has two absorption maxima at 198 and 220 nm. Although this absorption band was severely affected by dissolved oxygen, this interference was removed by bubbling nitrogen in the solution. The absorbance was proportional to the concentration of white phosphorus at these two absorption maxima (E1 %1 cm=ca. 400 in both). Similar results were obtained in other solvents, such as cyclohexane, heptane, ethanol, methanol, and water. No other inorganic phosphorus compounds such as red phosphorus, orthophosphoric acid, phosphorous acid, and hypophosphorous acid gave absorption maximum in the region of 190-260nm. It was suggested that the UV absorption spectrometry is a useful method applicable to analysis of white phosphorus.
