Nitric acid (HNO) greatly enhance the rate of reaction. Although chromium (Cr), iron (Fe), and aluminium (Al) readily dissolve in dilute nitric acid, the concentrated acid forms a metal-oxide layer that protects the bulk of the metal from further oxidation. The formation of this protective layer is called passivation. Typical passivation concentrations range from 20% to 50% by volume (see ASTM A967-05). Metals that are passivated by concentrated nitric acid are iron, cobalt, chromium, nickel, and aluminium. Being a powerful oxidizing acid, nitric acid reacts violently with many organic materials and the reactions may be explosive. The hydroxyl group will typically strip
Chromotropic acid uses chromotropic acid. Chromotropic acid Chromotropic acid has the formula is (HO)CH(SOH). It can be used for as a reagent in the quantitative determination of the systemic herbicide, 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid. Chromotropic acid is also used for testing of presence of formaldehyde. The usefulness of this reagent in quantitative determination is the formation of a red colouration (peaking at 580 nm wavelength) when chromotropic acid in 50% sulfuric acid reacts with formaldehyde. The colouration is specific to this aldehyde and is not produced from other organic species such as ketones and carboxylic acids. The NIOSH Formaldehyde method #3500 is the reference