Making sense of gas measurements: quantification of multicomponent gas mixtures in biological and chemical laboratory experiments

Abstract Textbooks in physical chemistry start from the treatise of ideal gas. Gaseous compounds are important reactants and products (bio)chemical reactions, thus their absolute amounts needed to establish mass balances. However, contrast solid, for dissolved liquid compounds, qualitative especially quantitative analysis is less widely established biological chemical laboratories. This can be mainly ascribed seemingly simple nature gaseous that effort precise quantification. In this article, we will guide reader through considerations steps perform a meaningful multicomponent gas mixtures, which or reactions aqueous solutions laboratory environment scale. After brief introduction, special focus set on methods quantification calculations derive gases mixture. The overall concept exemplified by biogas production as well an electroorganic reaction (Kolbe electrolysis n -hexanoic acid), general pitfalls highlighted.