ABSTRACT
This chapter briefly discusses the application, chemical properties and physical properties of acetaldehyde. It presents detailed information on the air analysis and analysis of aqueous samples of acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is used in the production of acetic acid, acetic anhydride, and many synthetic derivatives. It is colorless mobile liquid with fruity odor when diluted, soluble in water, alcohol, acetone, ether and benzene, and highly flammable. During the analysis of aqueous samples of acetaldehyde, aqueous samples are heated in a purging vessel under helium purge. Analyte is trapped over an adsorbent, then thermally desorbed out from the absorbent trap and transported onto a polar gas chromatography (GC) column for flame ionization detector (FID) or GC/mass spectroscopy (GC/MS) determination. During the air analysis of acetaldehyde, air is drawn through a midget impinger containing 0.05" 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) reagent in dilute HCl and isooctane.
