Liquid–liquid microextraction and spectrophotometric determination of anionic surfactants using Astra Phloxine FF

Abstract

A novel and simple procedure for determination of anionic surfactants has been developed. The method is based on the reaction of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) with Astra Phloxine FF reagent at pH 3–8, followed by liquid–liquid microextraction of the formed ion associate into an organic phase containing a mixture of carbon tetrachloride and dichloroethane (4:1, v/v) and subsequent UV-Vis detection at 555 nm. The calibration plot was linear in the range 0.006–0.29 mg L⁻¹ of SDS. The limit of detection (LOD), calculated based on 3s, is 0.002 mg L⁻¹. The method was applied to the determination of anionic surfactants in real wastewater samples.

Keywords:

• anionic surfactants
• liquid–liquid microextraction
• spectrophotometry
• wastewater samples

Acknowledgements

This work has been supported by the Scientific Grant Agency of the Ministry of Education of the Slovak Republic and the Slovak Academy of Sciences VEGA (grant No. 1/0010/15).