Determination of Sulfur in Asphalts by Selective Oxidation and Photoelectron Spectroscopy for Chemical Analysis

Article abstract of DOI:10.1021/ac00241a020

The characterization of sulfur in asphalts is investigated by coupling selective reactions and photoelectron spectroscopy for chemical analysis.The specificity of the two following reactions has been studied on test compounds: oxidation of sulfides with tert-butyl hydroperoxide in chloroform (a); reduction by lithium aluminum hydride of sulfones in tetrahydrofuran (b).These reactions have been used with an asphalt, directly for (a) or after a preoxidation with m-chloroperbenzoic acid for (b) to determine, using photoelectron spectroscopy, which kind of sulfur was invol ved.An analytical scheme sums up the different results: cyclic sulfides = 67percent, thiophenic sulfides = 54percent, cyclanic sulfide = 13percent, alkyl and aryl alkyl sulfides = 33percent.