Elemental Analysis

Elemental analysis determines the percentage composition of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and, where relevant, sulphur or halogen content within a compound...

Elemental analysis determines the percentage composition of carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, and, where relevant, sulphur or halogen content within a compound through combustion analysis, providing an independent confirmatory check on the proposed molecular formula that complements the mass spectrometric molecular weight determination described in Phase 3. Close agreement, conventionally within 0.4 percentage points, between the experimentally determined elemental composition and the theoretical composition calculated from the proposed molecular formula provides strong supporting evidence for both the correctness of the proposed structure and the overall purity of the sample, since a significantly impure sample will typically show elemental composition deviating from the theoretical value for the pure compound.