Direct spectrophotometric detection of the endpoint in metachromatic titration of polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride in water

Polydiallyldimethylammonium chloride (poly-DADMAC) is a water soluble polymer that easily ionizes when dissolved in water. This cationic polyelectrolyte is mainly used as a flocculant within the water treatment industry, but little is known of its toxicological properties or its fate in the environment. It is often assumed that the polyelectrolyte sorbs onto solid surfaces in the water treatment stream and may be removed with the sludge or by a sand bed filter; which may not always be the case. In any event, reliable analytical techniques are needed for the determination of poly-DADMAC in matrices of environmental relevance. Metachromatic polyelectrolyte titration was used to quantify poly-DADMAC in model and tap water samples. We compared a routine visual titration method with a direct spectrophotometric technique that uses a dip probe, spectrometer, and computer. The direct spectrophotometric technique allowed for the determination of titration curves at 634 nm and 510 nm, whereby the later value has never been successfully utilised in the literature. The method simplifies the data analysis, and our recovery and matrix interference experiments demonstrate that the method is accurate, precise, and robust. The detection limit for this method was 0.1 mg L−1 in model water and 0.5 mg L−1 in tap water. The limit of quantification for both water matrices was 0.5 mg L−1.