Aquagent®

AQUAGENT®  PYRIDINE-FREE KARL FISCHER REAGENTS

Aquagent® is our recently developed family of pyridine-free Karl Fischer reagents for volumetric water determination.

Karl Fischer volumetric titrations are widely used to quantify water content in many different samples. It is used both in industrial processes and in quality control laboratories as well.

Karl Fischer titration is well known from the beginning of 20th Century. First Karl Fischer reagents developed contained pyridine, which was supposed to be essential in the reaction.

In the original K-F reaction, iodine reacts with water in presence of SO2, methanol and pyridine.

Further experiments demonstrated that pyridine just acted as a buffer substance and it could be substituted by other basic compound, able to play the same role and, if possible, of less toxicity.

Most of the pyridine-free reagents, including our Aquagent®, contain imidazole instead of pyridine. Imidazole is a non-toxic base, has good buffering capacity and it allows fast and stable titration end-points.
ADVANTAGES OF AQUAGENT®:
• Non toxic
• Stable titration end-points
• Fast titration
• Doesn’t contain pyridine    

BENEFITS OF AQUAGENT®:
• Increases safety
• Accurate and reliable results
• Saves time
• Not unpleasant odour

 Quick titration and stable end-points are the features highlighted by the users of Aquagent®.

Scharlau offers pyridine-free Karl Fischer reagents for one-component and two-component titration systems:

ONE-COMPONENT SYSTEM

In one-component systems, all reagents participating in the Karl Fischer reaction are supplied in one product. Our Aquagent® Composite.

DESCRIPTION	CAT. NO.
Aquagent® - Composite 2	AQ0007
Aquagent® - Composite 5	AQ0003
Aquagent® - Composite 5K	AQ0004

Aquagent® Composite 5 is for general purposes while Aquagent® Composite 5K is specific for the analysis of ketones and aldehydes.

The sample must be dissolved in an anhydrous liquid to be titrated. Dry methanol is used in conjunction with Aquagent® Composite 5 or Aquagent® Composite 2
   
Methanol cannot be used as solvent for the analysis of ketones and aldehydes. It must be substituted by Aquagent® Medium K.

DESCRIPTION	CAT. NO.
Methanol, dry, reagent grade	ME0304
Aquagent® Medium	AQ0005

One-component reagents are very simple to use. On the other hand, they must be titrated frequently due to the reactivity of their components.

Expiry date for these reagents is typically two years.

We add a label on each bottle of Aquagent® Composite, where the user can write down reagent titration dates and obtained titre. Thus, he has the whole titration history of each bottle at a glance.

TWO-COMPONENT SYSTEM

In the two-component system, the solvent doesn’t act only as a solvent medium, but also contains part of the reagents. This allows longer shelf-life and avoids the need for frequent titration.

DESCRIPTION	CAT. NO.
Aquagent® - Titrant 5	AQ0001
Aquagent® - Solvent 5	AQ0002

The use of two component reagents is more expensive but it presents several advantages:

• Faster reaction
• Less consumption of titration reagents
• Better stability of the reagents

Shelf-life for Aquagent® Titrant 5 is three years and five years for Aquagent® Solvent.