Kjeldahl's Method - Practice Questions & MCQ

The compound containing nitrogen is heated with concentrated sulphuric acid. Nitrogen in the compound gets converted to ammonium sulphate. The resulting acid mixture is then heated with excess of sodium hydroxide. The liberated ammonia gas is absorbed in an excess of standard solution of sulphuric acid. The amount of ammonia produced is determined by estimating the amount of sulphuric acid consumed in the reaction. It is done by estimating unreacted sulphuric acid left after the absorption of ammonia by titrating it with standard alkali solution. The difference between the initial amount of acid taken and that left after the reaction gives the amount of acid reacted with ammonia.

Kjeldahl method is not applicable to compounds containing nitrogen in nitro and azo groups and nitrogen present in the ring (e.g. pyridine) as nitrogen of these compounds does not change to ammonium sulphate under these conditions.