Characterization of meta-Cresol Purple for spectrophotometric pH measurements in saline and hypersaline media at sub-zero temperatures

Loucaides, Socratis; Rerolle, Victoire M.C.; Papadimitriou, Stathys; Kennedy, Hilary; Mowlem, Matthew C.; Dickson, Andrew G.; Gledhill, Martha; Achterberg, Eric P.. 2017 Characterization of meta-Cresol Purple for spectrophotometric pH measurements in saline and hypersaline media at sub-zero temperatures. Scientific Reports, 7. 2481. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-02624-0

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Abstract/Summary

Accurate pH measurements in polar waters and sea ice brines require pH indicator dyes characterized at near-zero and below-zero temperatures and high salinities. We present experimentally determined physical and chemical characteristics of purified meta-Cresol Purple (mCP) pH indicator dye suitable for pH measurements in seawater and conservative seawater-derived brines at salinities (S) between 35 and 100 and temperatures (T) between their freezing point and 298.15 K (25 °C). Within this temperature and salinity range, using purified mCP and a novel thermostated spectrophotometric device, the pH on the total scale (pHT) can be calculated from direct measurements of the absorbance ratio R of the dye in natural samples as pHT=−log(kT2e2)+log(R−e11−Re3e2) Based on the mCP characterization in these extended conditions, the temperature and salinity dependence of the molar absorptivity ratios and − log(kT2e2) of purified mCP is described by the following functions: e1 = −0.004363 + 3.598 × 10−5T, e3/e2 = −0.016224 + 2.42851 × 10−4T + 5.05663 × 10−5(S − 35), and − log(kT2e2) = −319.8369 + 0.688159 S −0.00018374 S2 + (10508.724 − 32.9599 S + 0.059082S2) T−1 + (55.54253 − 0.101639 S) ln T −0.08112151T. This work takes the characterisation of mCP beyond the currently available ranges of 278.15 K ≤ T ≤ 308.15 K and 20 ≤ S ≤ 40 in natural seawater, thereby allowing high quality pHT measurements in polar systems.

Item Type:	Publication - Article
Digital Object Identifier (DOI):	https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-02624-0
ISSN:	2045-2322
Date made live:	15 Jun 2017 10:32 +0 (UTC)
URI:	https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/516969

Item Type:

Publication - Article

Digital Object Identifier (DOI):

https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-017-02624-0

ISSN:

2045-2322

Date made live:

15 Jun 2017 10:32 +0 (UTC)

URI:

https://nora.nerc.ac.uk/id/eprint/516969