The Quest to Eliminate the Use of Lead in the Laboratory : Part 2

In continuing the search to eliminate the use of toxic reagents in the laboratories of the South African sugar industry,. the results of evaluating a high wavelength polarimet~r WhICh operates at a wavelength of 882 nanometers and IS thus able to read darkly coloured solutions are presented. No clarification agent is required. The solutions, although dark in colour, must not contain any turbidity so it is essential to have fast, effective filtration. With juices and the extract from the direct analysis of cane there is good agreement between the pol values using this instrument and those obtained using lead clarification and a conventional polarimeter. With more concentrated factory products the agreement is poorer probably because the high colour of these products often dictates that if they are not clarified then they must be diluted more than usual to enable adequate light transmission.