Periodate Titration of Fe(II) in Acid Aqueous Solutions: An Environmentally Friendly Redox Reaction for the Undergraduate Laboratory

Abstract

An environmentally friendly redox laboratory for the determination of Fe(II) in an acid aqueous medium is presented. This laboratory exercise is an appropriate substitute for the traditional dichromate titration, which is environmentally problematic. This titration method uses the periodate ion as the oxidizing agent and yields results which are as accurate as the dichromate titration. Student success rate in quantitative analysis is better than 80% in two separate laboratory-based trials. This method requires a fairly high degree of operator skill to yield good results, making this a viable laboratory exercise at the sophomore or junior level.