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Phenylboric acid is an important intermediate in the processing of spent nuclear fuel waste.
A colorimetric method was developed for the determination of phenylboric acid in an aqueous process stream which involves liquid-liquid extraction and conversion to a boronate ester. The colorimetric reagent is an anthroquinone dye with vicinal hydroxy groups which react with alkylboric acids, shifting the visible absorption maximum. The structure of the ester is reported, along with a method of using this reaction for quantifying alkylboric acids. This engineering solution requires several chemical processing steps prior to the introduction of the waste into the glass melting furnace. Sodium tetraphenylborate is used as a precipitating agent for cesium, which introduces organic moieties into the process.