Studies on the separation of hydronium ion using surfactant-modified reversed-phase stationary phases and eluents containing an acidified electrolyte

A further investigation of a chromatographic system allowing determination of hydrogen ions is reported. For this purpose an octadecylsilica column dynamically modified with sodium dodecylsulfate (SDS) or lithium dodecylsulfate (LDS) was used as stationary phase and a slightly acidified electrolyte (usually KCl)–SDS solution was used as the eluent. The concentration of SDS, KCl and the acidity of the eluent affected the structure of aggregates formed by the molecules of dodecylsulfate at the surface of the stationary phase. These aggregates of dodecylsulfate were found to be responsible for the appearance of a chromatographic peak attributed to the presence of H3O+ ions in a sample. Other cations in the sample could be separated in the same manner, permitting the simultaneous separation of monovalent cations from H3O+. The detection limit for H3O+ ions was 2.25·10−6 M using an eluent comprising 0.3 mM LDS, 50.0 mM KCl and 0.10 mM H2SO4. The proposed method is shown to be applicable for the determination of free H3O+ ions in aqueous solutions of strong acids.