A new Iodobismuthate Method with a Low Volume Filtration Device as a New Tool for the Determination of Microgram Oxyethylate Amounts

Abstract

Abstract The standard procedure of non-ionic surfactant detection by using the Bismuth Active Substances method offers low sensitivity, precision and a high consumption of the reagents. A new spectrophotometric (λmax = 460 nm of the visible spectrum) iodobismuthate method was developed, which may be successfully used to determine the presence of non-ionic surfactants at microgram levels. The oxyethylates were precipitated with the modified Dragendorff reagent, filtered, dissolved and afterwards the spectrophotometric determination of the equivalent bismuth amount was carried out. Several key factors, which influence the results of the proposed oxyethylate determination method, were optimized. The consumption of chemical reagents was notably decreased and the sensitivity of the method increased significantly in comparison to the standard method of non-ionic surfactant determination.