Potentiometric titration of anionic polyelectrolytes using a cationic surfactant solution as a titrant and a titrant-sensitive plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) membrane electrode

A potentiometric titration method for the direct determination of anionic polyelectrolytes using a plasticized poly(vinyl chloride) membrane electrode is described. A cationic surfactant solution is used as titrant. The method is based on ion association between the anionic polyelectrolyte in the sample and the cationic surfactant in the titrant. The end-point is detected as a sharp potential change due to an increase in the concentration of the free cationic surfactant at the equivalence point. The sharpness of the titration curve at the end-point is compared for several cationic surfactants; a solution of stearyltrimethylammonium ion has been found to be superior.