Garlic-derived sulfide compounds are well known natural nematicides, especially after European Union approved the use of ECOspray. As sulfur is a component element of such compounds, and elemental sulfur is typically used in the synthesis, total sulfur content determination is critical for purity data. ICP-OES has long been successfully used in total sulfur analysis for agricultural products. However, some of these sulfide compounds pose a challenge as they are insoluble in water. In addition, they generate a severely enhanced sulfur signal when compared with the same amount of spiked sulfur as methane sulfonic acid on ICP. Facing these challenges, we developed a new method where the sulfides are transformed by oxidation and dissolved in aqueous dimethylformamide (DMF) solution. To ensure the accurate sulfur test by ICP, a Cs solution and an acidic DMF solution were also utilized to minimize the signal suppression and sample carry-over. Using the standard diallyl sulfide as a representative compound, we demonstrated the success of this method for total sulfur analysis.

Novel method for total sulfur determination for garlic-derived compounds

248th National Meeting (2014)

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