The HI3859-025 are high quality reagents that are pre-measured, allowing for users to achieve fast determination of glycol presence with the chemical test kit. These reagents utilize the oxidation of glycolic groups present in the sample to determine if glycol is present or absent from the sample.

Ethylene glycol and other 1,2 glycols are determined by a two step reaction:

Step 1: Glycol is oxidized to two carbonyl groups under acidic conditions.

Step 2: The carbonyl groups react with the indicator in the HI3859C-0 reagent powder packet to give a colored solution.