Conductometric and Potentiometric Titration of Carboxyl Groups in Polymer Microspheres

A laboratory procedure has been suggested for determining the concentration of carboxyl groups at the surface of polystyrene microspheres at the latex concentration of a few hundredths of weight percentage (the COOH groups concentration below 4 × 10−4 mol/L). The procedure is based on conductometric and potentiometric titration. The influence of polymer particles concentration in the system, ionic strength of the solution, titration duration, and the system inertness on the obtained values of the carboxyl groups concentration and the determination accuracy have been investigated.