Influence of nonionic surfactants on the potentiometric response of ion-selective polymeric membrane electrodes designed for blood electrolyte measurements.

The effect of the nonionic surfactants Brij 35 and Triton X-100 on the selectivity of neutral carrier-based ion-selective electrodes (ISEs) commonly used for measurements of electrolytes in whole blood is investigated. Studies are conducted with plasticized PVC membranes doped with several neutral ionophores commonly employed to prepare clinically useful potassium, calcium, and sodium ISEs. An observed increase in the electrodes' EMF values upon the addition of surfactant to the test solution suggests a change in the ion selectivity of the polymeric membranes in the presence of Brij 35 or Triton X-100. For membranes doped with K(+)-selective valinomycin, the effect of nonionic surfactants is relatively small. However, in the case of calcium-selective membranes prepared with ETH 1001 and ETH 129, nonionic surfactants, especially Triton X-100, decrease the selectivity for calcium over potassium cations by nearly 1 order of magnitude. Such behavior is even more dramatic for sodium-selective membranes, with the degree of surfactant-induced loss of ion selectivity dependent on the specific sodium ionophore employed, the lipophilic tetraphenylborate derivative content of the membrane, and the surfactant type. A detailed theoretical model is presented to explain the effect of nonionic surfactants on the EMF response function of cation-selective polymeric membrane electrodes. Experimental results are in good agreement with theoretical predictions based on known binding constants for ionophores and surfactants with given cations.