Quantification of sulfur from organic and inorganic materials for determination of S-35

The oxidation studies of a sulfur to a sulfate ion by various oxyhalide oxidants in organic (thiourea, methionine) and inorganic (sulfate, thiophosphate) compounds were carried out in an acidic solution. The optimized result of the oxidation reaction was obtained when a bromate compound (BrO3-) as an oxidant and a 3 M HNO3 solvent were used. The chemical yield for the oxidation of the organic and inorganic sulfur compounds to a sulfate ion was monitored as 80% for thiophosphate, 87% for methionine, and 100% for thiourea and sulfate within 5% RSD. The oxidations of thiourea required at least 1.6 equivalents of the bromate in an acidic solution. In the case of the oxidation of methionine and thiophosphate, the oxidation yields were above 80% if the bromate was used at 20 times higher than that of the substrates. The sulfate ion was quantitatively measured by using a GPC counting of S-35 followed by precipitates of BaSO4. A quenching correction curve for the S-35 counting was obtained to use the difference via the precipitate weight result.