Highly precise detection, discrimination, and removal of anionic surfactants over the full pH range via cationic conjugated polymer: an efficient strategy to facilitate illicit-drug analysis.

A water-soluble cationic conjugated polyelectrolyte (CPE), poly(1,4-bis(6-(1-methylimidazolium)-hexyloxy)-benzene bromide) (PMI) displays extraordinary stability over the full pH range of 1-14 as well as in seawater, brine, urine, and other solutions and carries out efficient detection, discrimination, and removal of moderately dissimilar anionic surfactants (viz., sodium dodecyl benzenesulfonate (SDBS) and sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS)) at very low levels (31.7 and 17.3 parts per billion (ppb), respectively). PMI formed stable hydrogels in the presence of SDS that remained unaffected by strong acids/bases, heating, ultrasonication, or exposure to light, whereas SDBS formed precipitate with PMI as a result of its different interpolymer cofacial arrangement via Columbic attraction. The complex-forming ability of PMI with SDS and SDBS facilitated their elimination from water or drug-doped urine samples without the use of any organic solvent, chromatographic technique, or solid support. This protocol, the first of its kind for the removal of anionic surfactants at very low concentrations from any type of solution and competitive environments, demonstrates an original application using a CPE. The surfactant-free sample solutions could be precisely analyzed for the presence of illicit drugs by any standard methods. Using PMI, a newly developed CPE, a rapid and practical method for the efficient detection, discrimination, and removal of SDS and SDBS at ppb levels from water and urine, under harsh conditions, and in natural chemical environments is demonstrated.