Titrace

Titrace is a term used in analytical chemistry to refer to the recorded signal obtained during a titration experiment. The titrace is typically a plot of a measured response—such as pH, potential (mV), absorbance, or conductivity—against the volume of titrant added. The resulting titration trace shows how the analyte concentration changes as the titrant is introduced and is commonly used to determine the endpoint or equivalence point of the reaction.

In practice, titraces are generated by modern automatic titration instruments that control titrant addition and collect data at set intervals. For acid-base titrations, the trace is often a pH curve with a characteristic steep rise near the equivalence point; derivative plots (dpH/dV) or second derivatives can provide a more precise endpoint. In redox and complexometric titrations, signals such as potential or absorbance are traced to identify the point of complete reaction.

The term may also appear in contexts of spectrophotometric or conductometric titration, where the trace corresponds to changes in absorbance or conductivity. Interferences, instrumental noise, and sample matrix can distort the trace, requiring calibration, blank subtraction, or smoothing.

See also: titration curve, equivalence point, endpoint, potentiometry, photometric titration, derivative titration.