Ammonium Purpurate

Murexide is used in analytical chemistry as a complexometric indicator for complexometric titrations most often of calcium ions but also for Cu Ni Co Th and rare earth metals. Cf. Eriochrome Black T. Due to the minute amounts needed for this purpose it is often used in a 1250 mixture with potassium sulfate. Murexide is also used as a colorimetric reagent for measurement of calcium and rare earth metals for calcium the pH required is 11.3 detection range lies between 0.2 and 1.2ppm and the maximum absorbance wavelength is 506nm. Murexide and methyl red are investigated as promising enhancers of sonochemical destruction of chlorinated hydrocarbon pollutants.

For R&D use onlynot for drug household or other uses.

Murexide (NH4C8H4N5O6 or C8H5N5O6NH3) also called ammonium purpurate or MX is the ammonium salt of purpuric acid. It may be prepared by heating alloxantin in ammonia gas to 100&8451 or by boiling uramil (5-aminobarbituric acid) with mercury oxide. W.N. Hartley found considerable difficulty in obtaining specimens of murexide sufficiently pure to give concordant results when examined by means of their absorption spectra and consequently devised a new method of preparation for murexide. In this process alloxantin is dissolved in a large excess of boiling absolute alcohol and dry ammonia gas is passed into the solution for about three hours. The solution is then filtered from the precipitated murexide which is washed with absolute alcohol and dried. The salt obtained in this way is in the anhydrous state. It may also be prepared by digesting alloxan with alcoholic ammonia at about 78&8451 the purple solid so formed is easily soluble in water and the solution produced is indistinguishable from one of murexide. Murexide in its dry state has the appearance of a reddish purple powder slightly soluble in water. In solution its color ranges from yellow in strong acidic pH through reddish-purple in weakly acidic solutions to blue-purple in alkaline solutions. The pH for titration of calcium is 11.3.