"Colloidal" Phosphorus Errors in Gel Chromatography

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Abstract
Gel chromatography has been used for the separation of 32PO4 and a high molecular weight "colloidal" 32P-labeled fraction from 32PO4-labeled lakewater. When the labeled filtrate is treated with reagents required for the molybdenum blue method for orthophosphate analysis, only a small fraction of the "colloidal" peak is hydrolyzed to orthophosphate. As the reduced molybdophosphoric acid is strongly adsorbed to the dextran gel, quantitative elution of 32PO4 can be achieved with 0.05 mol∙L−1 NaOH and 0.3% NaCl. In hardwater lakes, care must be taken to eliminate the possibility of orthophosphate precipitation at higher pH. In these lakes, it is unlikely that the discrepancy between 32PO4 bioassays and chemical analyses can be solely attributed to acid hydrolysis of "colloidal" phosphorus. Microparticulate apatite also has the potential to release soluble reactive phosphate when the acidic molybdenum blue method is used.