Decomposition of free chlorine with tertiary ammonium.

The reaction of free chlorine with tertiary ammonium or amine compounds in aqueous solution was studied by the amperometry at a rotating Pt-disk electrode. The amperometric method can be applied to follow the concentration of free chlorine (c(Cl)) even in the presence of chloramine species. By addition of mono- and dibutylammonium to the solution containing free chlorine, the step-like decrease in c(Cl) was observed, indicating the rapid formation of the stable chloramine species. By addition of tributylammonium, the c(Cl) was decreased exponentially to nearly zero even if the free chlorine was present initially in excess. The c(Cl)-t curves can be explained by tributylammonium-species-catalyzed decomposition of free chlorine to chloride ion. The catalytic decomposition was observed also with the tertiary-ammonium-based anion-exchange resins. Furthermore, the anion-exchange resins exhibited the decomposition of not only free chlorine but also chloramines in water.