Amperometric determination of thioacetamide with copper(I).

A method is given for the amperometric determination of thioacetamide (TAA) based on the reaction of TAA with copper(I) in ammoniacal solution. The reduction current due to the copper(I) is used to determine the end-point. The determination is carried out at constant temperature (25 degrees ), pH 8.0-9.8 (ammonia-urotropine buffer), and at constant potential (-0.6 V vs. S.C.E.), with a dropping mercury electrode as cathode and a saturated calomel electrode as anode. The solution is deaerated by a stream of electrolytically generated hydrogen. The titrations are carried out simply and rapidly and the results are fairly reproducible. The error is generally 1.0% for amounts of TAA ranging from 0.07 to 1.8 mg.