Identification of Nitrogen Compounds by Catalytic Denitrogenation

Abstract

A micromethod, developed for the catalytic hydrogenation of organic sulfur and oxygen compounds, has been applied to nitrogen compounds. This technique rapidly and quantitatively removes the nitrogen atom from organic nitrogen compounds to produce paraffins and cycloparaffins. The identification of the produced hydrocarbon identifies or contributes to the identification of the nitrogen compound precursor. Such identifications would otherwise be difficult or impossible in many instances because of the limited number of nitrogen-bearing reference compounds available. Data are presented showing the application of this technique to pure compounds and to mixtures of nitrogen compounds of unknown composition.