Applications of Gas Chromatography to Phosphorus Containing Compounds

Very little has been published on the use of gas chromatography for phosphorus-containing compounds. We have found it to be an extremely valuable aid in both the research and production of organic and inorganic phosphorus compounds. Methods have been developed for assaying finished products and for control of many of the intermediate streams for a number of processes producing phosphorus compounds. Gas chromatographic analysis of inorganic phosphorus compounds—PCl3, POCl3, and (PNCl2)3 to (PNCl2)4—have appeared in the literature. Gas chromatographic methods developed in our laboratory for these mixtures are also given in this paper. Several useful suggestions on gas chromatographic procedure when analyzing for phosphorus compounds are direct injection on the column, the use of glass columns, careful drying of the carrier gas, special treatment of the support to reduce tailing and rearrangement, on the column, and the use of temperature programming.