The determination of small amounts of long-chain tertiary alkylamines and quarternary ammonium salts

Bromocresol green has been investigated as an alternative to ammonium erdmannate for the absorptiometric determination of small amounts of long-chain alkylamines and quaternary ammonium salts in aqueous solution in a solvent extraction procedure. The molecular absorption coefficient of the reagent at 615 nm is about 3 times that of the erdmannate ion at 353 nm; visual methods of comparison are simplified by the blue colour of the bromocresol green anion The sensitivity of both the bromocresol green and the erdmannate method may be increased by stripping the coloured reagents into a small volume of aqueous solution. Both methods are free of interference from iron, but the present procedure has the disadvantage of a blank which depends both on the pH and on the concentration of excess reagent.