Simultaneous determination of sodium dodecyl sulphate and sodium linear-dodecylbenzenesulphonate with 1-stearyl-4-(4-aminonaphthylazo)-pyridinium bromide by spectrophotometry

A rapid and sensitive spectrophotometric method for the simultaneous determination of sodium dodecyl sulphate (SDS) and sodium linear-dodecylbenzenesulphonate (DBS) with 1-stearyl-4-(4-aminonaphthylazo)-pyridinium bromide (SAPB) is described using the difference at the maximum absorption wavelength of the SDS- and the DBS-ion associate. SDS and DBS have been determined independently by measuring their respective absorbances at the maximum absorption wavelength. The apparent molar absorptivities of the SDS- and the DBS-ion associate are 8.0×10⁴ l mol^–1 cm^–1 at 445 nm and 4.5×10⁴ l mol^–1 cm^–1 at 424 nm, respectively. The calibration graph for SDS is linear in the range from 0.1 to 1.0×10^–6 mol/l in the presence of 1.2×10^–6 mol/l DBS and for DBS from 0.8 to 2.0×10^–6 mol/l in the presence of 8.0×10^–7 mol/l SDS. The relative standard deviation (n=15) for 8.0×10^–7 mol/l SDS is 3.4% and for 1.6×10^–6 mol/l DBS 2.1%. The proposed method has been applied to the simulatenous determination of SDS and DBS in river water samples.