Response and selectivity characteristics of alkylammonium ion-selective electrodes

A series of poly(vinyl chloride) matrix coated-wire electrodes based on dinonylnaph-thalene sulfonic acid (DNNS) selective to various alkylammonium ions was prepared and selectivity characteristics were evaluated. A set of tributylammonium electrodes was used to study the interference by a homologous series of alkylammonium ions. Selectivity coefficient (k^pot_i,j) values for alkylammonium ions at a given carbon number decreased in the order primary, secondary, tertiary, quaternary. A linear increase in log k^pot_i,j with carbon number was observed in each series. Two additional sets of electrodes selective to dodecylammonium ion and to di-n-hexylammonium ion were evaluated for response to other C-12 amines. Electrodes for primary amines showed little or no response to secondary and tertiary amines, while electrodes for tertiary amines responded strongly to primary amines and less strongly to secondary amines. The effect of structural modifications was evaluated in a study of N-substituted cydohexylamines. The dependence of the magnitude of k^pot_i,j on the concentration of the interference was determined for both strongly and weakly interfering species. For strong interferences, k^pot_i,j was observed to increase to a maximum value of characteristic concentration. For weak interferences, the k^pot_i,j variation with concentration was markedly less. Guides for estimating the response to an interfering species based on its structure and molecular weight were obtained. The results are compared to analogous solvent-extraction systems. The significance of these results is discussed in terms of quantifying different components in binary mixtures using several electrodes simultaneously.