Studies on the colorimetric determination of phosphate

Taylor & Miller introduced a method for the colorimetric determination of phosphate, based on the reduction of phosphomolybdic acid. The imper- fections of the original method led to many modifications by other workers, but, owing to inadequate knowledge of the chemical mechanism of the reaction, these modifications were based largely on methods of trial and error. The following investigations on the mechaniLsm of the reaction were undertaken to serve as a more accurate basis for further improvements of the method.