Limitations of the Use of Potassium Hydroxide Potassium Cyanide Mixtures in Manometric Studies

The manometric study of biological oxidations by the "direct method" of Warburg, when carried out in the presence of cyanide, involves the use of KOH-KCN mixtures (Krebs (4)) for the absorption of carbon dioxide. The following study describes the rate of distillation of HCN from the experimental solution under various conditions, and suggests a remedy for the difficulties occasionally encountered (Machlis (2)) with the above mixtures.