Development of Methods for the Determination of Elemental Phosphorus and Phosphine in Air

摘要

Development of a solid sorbent sampling method for the measurement of elemental phosphorus vapor concentrations in air is described. The method is based on collection of phosphorus vapor on Tenax-GC, extraction with xylene, and determination by gas chromatography with a flame photometric detector. The overall method appears to meet all of the requirements established by NIOSH for industrial hygiene applications. Efforts to develop a solid sorbent sampling method for phosphine with a nonspectrophotometric analytical finish were not entirely successful. No solid sorbent that could collect phosphine efficiently and from which phosphine could be recovered by extraction or heating was found. The most nearly satisfactory method was based on collection of phosphine by reaction with mercuric cyanide on silica gel, with subsequent regeneration of phosphine by reduction with sodium borohydride and with gas chromatographic determination of the recovered phosphine. The recovery of phosphine was, however, less than quantitative and the storage stability of the collected sample was poor.