LAWRENCE AMANKWA and FREDERICK F. CANTWELL. Can. J. Chem. 69, 88 (1991) Porous membrane phase separators are used to study the adsorption of the cation tetrahexylammonium (Qt), of the anion bromothymol blue (HB-) and of the ion-pair formed between them (QHB) at the liquid-liquid interface in a rapidly stirred mixture of chloroform and aqueous buffer. Adsorption isotherms in all three cases follow the Langmuir equation. The anion HBis much more strongly adsorbed than the ion-pair QHB. The porous membrane technique readily permits measurement of simultaneous adsorption of the two species HB-and QHB, and thereby allows a study of their competitive adsorption. When QHB is adsorbed in the presence of an excess of HB-both the saturated (monolayer) interfacial concentration of QHB and the logarithm of the adsorption equilibrium constant for QHB decrease linearly with an increase in interfacial concentration of HB-. This shows quantitatively that coadsorption of QHB and HB-involves a direct competition for space at the interface and also that the presence of adsorbed HB-changes the adsorbent properties of the interface. Analytical implications for solvent extraction are discussed. Solvent extraction of ion-pairs has been (1) and remains (2,3) an important technique for the analytical determination of ionic species. The equilibrium aspects of the distribution of ion-pairs between two bulk liquid phases have been extensively studied (1,4) and, more recently, the kinetic aspects of ion-pair extraction between bulk liquid phases have been investigated (5).Depending on the surface-activity of the sample ion, of the reagent ion and of the ion-pair formed between them, interfacial adsorption may play a major role in determining both the equilibrium and kinetic extraction behavior of ion-pairs. The use of porous membrane phase separators makes possible measurement of the amount of solute adsorbed at the liquidliquid interface in a vigorously stirred solvent extraction system and therefore permits the measurement of adsorption isotherms of solutes between the interface and the bulk liquid phases (6-9). Adsorption isotherms previously have been measured by this technique for interfacial adsorption of ion-pairs formed between cationic metal-ligand complexes and simple anions (10) and for the ion-pair tetrahexylammoniumpicrate (QP) (1 1). Because the technique allows measurement of concentrations in both liquid phases it makes possible the discrimination of two species simultaneously adsorbed at the interface. This is an advantage over conventional techniques for measuring interfacial adsorption such as those based on interfacial tension or pressure. This advantage is utilized in studying the tetrahexylammonium-bromothymol blue system. 'TO whom correspondence should be addressed.Bromothymol blue is one of the most often used anionic reagents for ion-pair extraction (I). In the present study bromothymol blue anion, HB-, which is surface-active, is used to form a surface-active ion pair, QHB, with tetrahexylammonium cation, Q + , w...