Lessons from the NIST micronutrients quality assurance program for vitamin C, 1993 to 2015: sample stability, assay reproducibility, and use of controls to improve comparability.

Vitamin C is a necessary micronutrient that is involved in many biological processes. In preserved human plasma and serum, vitamin C is most meaningfully analyzed as total ascorbic acid (TAA). From 1993 through 2015, the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) coordinated 40 interlaboratory studies (ILS) devoted to improving the between-participant comparability of TAA measurements.

Measurement of water by oven evaporation using a novel oven design. 2. Water in motor oils and motor oil additives.

The measurement of water in lubricating oils is important because water accelerates the corrosion of metal parts and bearings in motors. Some of the additives added to lubricating oils to improve their performance react with the Karl Fischer reagent (KFR) causing a positive bias in the water measurement. A new oven evaporation technique for measuring water in oils has been developed that is automated, requires less sample handling, is easily calibrated, and is capable of measuring relatively small mass fractions of water (> or =50 mg/kg sample).

Measurement of water by oven evaporation using a novel oven design. 1. Water in water-saturated 1-octanol, coal, cement, and refined oils.

Using an automated oven evaporation technique combined with the coulometric Karl Fischer method, the mass fraction of water has been measured in cement, coal, and refined oil samples. The accuracy of this method was established by using SRM 2890, water-saturated 1-octanol that was added to white oil. The samples were analyzed for total reactive Karl Fischer reagent (KFR) material, for interfering materials, and for material that does not react with the aldehyde-ketone KFR.

Solid-phase extraction-electrospray ionization mass spectrometry for the quantification of folate in human plasma or serum.

The measurement of 5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid (5 MT) blood levels is one of several factors used to diagnose folate deficiency in humans. 5 can be selectively purified from either human plasma or human serum via solid-phase extraction procedures and specifically detected and quantified in the extracts with liquid chromatography/isotope-dilution electrospray-ionization mass spectrometry. Two different, yet complementary, solid-phase extraction-liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry methods have been developed and applied to the quantification of 5 MT from such extracts.

The determination of water in crude oil and transformer oil reference materials.

The measurement of the amount of water in oils is of significant economic importance to the industrial community, particularly to the electric power and crude oil industries. The amount of water in transformer oils is critical to their normal function and the amount of water in crude oils affects the cost of the crude oil at the well head, the pipeline, and the refinery. Water in oil Certified Reference Materials (CRM) are essential for the accurate calibration of instruments that are used by these industries.

Certification of standard reference material 970, ascorbic acid in serum, and analysis of associated interlaboratory bias in the measurement process.

Background: The accurate and reproducible measurement of ascorbic acid is essential in delineating the role of ascorbic acid as a diagnostic tool for human disease and for the comparison of data acquired by different laboratories. A stabilized pair of standards of ascorbic acid in human serum, which is compatible with most analytical methods, have been prepared.

Methods: The certification was based on the gravimetric addition of ascorbic acid to metaphosphoric acid-stabilized, ascorbic acid-depleted serum and NIST liquid chromatography-electrochemical measurements.

Affinity extraction combined with stable isotope dilution LC/MS for the determination of 5-methyltetrahydrofolate in human plasma.

The predominant circulating folate monoglutamate in human plasma (>90%), and thus the most significant folate for accurately diagnosing folate deficiency, is 5-methyltetrahydrofolic acid (5 MT). Folate deficiency is typically indicated when circulating folate levels are < or = 3 ng/mL. The quantitative determination of plasma folates in general, and of 5 MT in particular, is complicated by their naturally low levels (pg/mL to ng/mL), their instability, and their tendency to interconvert.

A coulometric method for determining substances that interfere with the measurement of water in oils and other chemicals by the Karl Fischer method.

In order to fulfill a need to measure water in crude oils containing materials that interfere with the measurement of water by the Karl Fischer method, by reacting with iodine or iodide, a coulometric method has been developed and validated using 0.1 mol L(-1) Sodium thiosulfate as a calibrant. These interfering substances were measured in water-mass-equivalents, which were expressed as the mass of water that reacts with an equal mass of iodine in the Karl Fischer method.

Interlaboratory assessment of measurement precision and bias in the coulometric Karl Fischer determination of water.

The precision and bias of the coulometric Karl Fischer ASTM method D1533-00 have been assessed in a collaborative ASTM round robin program for a group of 34 laboratories. The test materials used in this study included water saturated 1-octanol (WSO), water saturated 1-butanol (WSB), and a series of new and used transformer oil samples. Fundamental systematic biases have been demonstrated in the accuracy of the measurement of water in the WSO, WSB, and transformer oil samples.