Interaction between sulfonephthalein dyes and chitosan in aqueous solution and its application to the determination of surfactants.

A spectrophotometric method for the determination of ionic surfactants with Bromophenol Blue (BPB) based on incorporation into a precipitated chitosan was studied. Cationic surfactants (CS+), such as a quaternary ammonium ion containing a long-chain alkyl group, associate with BPB2- buffered at about pH 9 to form the ion associate (CS+)2 x BPB2-. CS+ associates with anionic surfactants (AS-). In the presence of a definite amount of CS+, an increase in the amount of AS- leads to a decrease in the amount of excess CS+, and therefore to a decrease in the amount of the ion associate of CS+ with BPB2-. The addition of a chitosan dissolved in acetic acid to a solution containing these ion associates leads immediately to precipitation of the chitosan and the incorporation of the ion associates (CS+)2 x BPB2- or CS+ x AS- into the precipitated chitosan. After centrifuging, ionic surfactants can be determined by the following two methods: (1) the absorbance of the supernatant solution is measured at 590 nm. (2) After the supernatant solution is separated, the precipitate is dissolved in an acetic acid solution and the absorbance is measured at 625 nm. Because the color of the precipitate is judged by the naked eye, this can be applied to the visual method. This is a simple and rapid method for the determination of a 10(-6) M order of ionic surfactants.