Supported liquid membranes in hollow fiber liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) – Practical considerations in the three-phase mode

Hollow fiber-based liquid phase microextraction followed by analytical instrumental techniques for quantitative analysis of heavy metal ions and pharmaceuticals

Hollow-fiber liquid-phase microextraction (HF-LPME) and electromembrane extraction (EME) are miniaturized extraction techniques, and have been coupled with various analytical instruments for trace analysis of heavy metals, drugs and other organic compounds, in recent years. HF-LPME and EME provide high selectivity, efficient sample cleanup and enrichment, and reduce the consumption of organic solvents to a few micro-liters per sample. HF-LPME and EME are compatible with different analytical instruments for chromatography, electrophoresis, atomic spectroscopy, mass spectrometry, and electrochemical detection. HF-LPME and EME have gained significant popularity during the recent years. This review focuses on hollow fiber based techniques (especially HF-LPME and EME) of heavy metals and pharmaceuticals (published 2017 to May 2019), and their combinations with atomic spectroscopy, UV-VIS spectrophotometry, high performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, capillary electrophoresis, and voltammetry.

Hollow fibre supported liquid membrane extraction for BTEX metabolites analysis in human teeth as biomarkers

The use of human teeth as biomarkers has been previously applied to characterize environmental exposure mainly to metal contamination. Difficulties arise when the contaminants are volatile or its concentration level is very low. This study presents the development of a methodology based on the transport through hollow fibre membrane liquid-phase microextraction (HF-LPME), followed by HPLC-UV measurement, to determine three different metabolites of BTEX contaminants, mandelic acid (MA), hyppuric acid (HA), and methylhippuric acid (4mHA). The driving force for the liquid membrane has been studied by using both non-facilitated (pH gradient 2-12) and facilitated transport (ionic and non-ionic carriers). Enrichment factors of several hundreds were accomplished. Different ionic and non-ionic water insoluble compounds were used as metabolite carriers for the facilitated transport at HF-LPME. Three organic solvents were used to constitute the liquid membrane, dodecane, dihexyl ether and n-decanol. Other parameters affecting the extraction process, such as extraction time, stirring speed, acceptor buffer and salt content were optimised in spiked solutions and selected those that presented the best enrichment factors for all analytes. Final conditions were established for donor solution as 20mL, pH2 of 0.5M NaCl, the OLM (Organic Liquid Membrane) as n-decanol and the acceptor solution as 40μL of 1M NaOH. The selected extraction time was 20h with stirring speed of 500rpm. Validation of the optimised method included the determination of individual linearity range (MA: 0.002-5.7μg; HA: 0.01-7.9μg; 4mHA 0.002-5.3μg), limits of detection (MA: 1.6ng; HA: 0.2ng; 4mHA 0.2ng), repeatability (RSD 7-10%) and reproducibility (5-8%). The developed method was applied to the analysis of MA, HA and 4mHA in teeth samples of 8 workers exposed to BTEX.

Applicability of a Supported Liquid Membrane in the Enrichment and Determination of Cadmium from Complex Aqueous Samples

A supported liquid membrane is developed for the separation of Cd from either high in salinity or acidity aqueous media. The membrane consisted of a durapore (polyvinylidene difluoride) polymeric support impregnated with a 0.5 M Aliquat 336 solution in decaline. The effect of carrier concentration, organic solvent and feed and receiving solutions on the metal permeability is studied. This system allows the effective transport of trace levels of Cd through the formation of CdCl₄²⁻, which is the predominant species responsible for the extraction process, in both NaCl and HCl solutions. The supported liquid membrane system in a hollow fibre configuration allows the enrichment and separation of trace levels of Cd from spiked seawater samples, facilitating the analytical determination of this toxic metal.

Recovery of Anthocyanins Using Membrane Technologies: A Review

Anthocyanins are naturally occurring polyphenolic compounds and give many flowers, fruits and vegetable their orange, red, purple and blue colors. Besides their color attributes, anthocyanins have received much attention in recent years due to the growing evidence of their antioxidant capacity and health benefits on humans. However, these compounds usually occur in low concentrations in mixtures of complex matrices, and therefore large-scale harvesting is needed to obtain sufficient amounts for their practical usage. Effective fractionation or separation technologies are therefore essential for the screening and production of these bioactive compounds. In this context, membrane technologies have become popular due to their operational simplicity, the capacity to achieve good simultaneous separation/pre-concentration and matrix reduction with lower temperature and lower operating cost in comparison to other sample preparation methods. Membrane fractionation is based on the molecular or particle sizes (pressure-driven processes), on their charge (electrically driven processes) or are dependent on both size and charge. Other non-pressure-driven membrane processes (osmotic pressure and vapor pressure-driven) have been developed in recent years and employed as alternatives for the separation or fractionation of bioactive compounds at ambient conditions without product deterioration. These technologies are applied either individually or in combination as an integrated membrane system to meet the different requirements for the separation of bioactive compounds. The first section of this review examines the basic principles of membrane processes, including the different types of membranes, their structure, morphology and geometry. The most frequently used techniques are also discussed. Last, the specific application of these technologies for the separation, purification and concentration of phenolic compounds, with special emphasis on anthocyanins, are also provided.

Novel analytical procedure using a combination of hollow fiber supported liquid membrane and dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for the determination of aflatoxins in soybean juice by high performance liquid chromatography - Fluorescence detector

This study describes a combination between hollow fiber membrane and dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for determination of aflatoxins in soybean juice by HPLC. The main advantage of this approach is the use of non-chlorinated solvent and small amounts of organic solvents. The optimum extraction conditions were 1-octanol as immobilized solvent; toluene and acetone at 1:5 ratio as extraction and disperser solvents (100 μL), NaCl at 2% of the sample volume and extraction time of 60 min. The optimal condition for the liquid desorption was 150 μL acetonitrile:water (50:50 v/v) and desorption time of 20 min. The linear range varied from 0.03 to 21 μg L(-1), with R(2) coefficients ranging from 0.9940 to 0.9995. The limits of detection and quantification ranged from 0.01 μg L(-1) to 0.03 μg L(-1) and from 0.03 μg L(-1) to 0.1 μg L(-1), respectively. Recovery tests ranged from 72% to 117% and accuracy between 12% and 18%.

Hollow fibre liquid phase micro-extraction by facilitated anionic exchange for the determination of flavonoids in faba beans (Vicia faba L.)

INTRODUCTION

Flavonoids are polyphenolic compounds found ubiquitously in foods of plant origin. They are commonly extracted from plant materials with ethanol, methanol, water, their combination or even with acidified extracting solutions. The disadvantages of these methods are the use of high quantity of organic solvent, the possible loss of analytes in the different steps and the laborious process of the techniques. In addition, the complexity of the phenolic mixtures present in plant materials requires a preliminary clean-up and fractionation of the crude extracts.

OBJECTIVE

To develop a hollow fibre liquid phase micro-extraction (HF-LPME) method for a one step clean-up and pre-concentration of flavonoids.

METHODOLOGY

Two flavonoids (catechin and rutin) has been extracted by HF-LPME and analysed by HPLC. The related driving force for the liquid membrane has been studied by means of facilitated and non-facilitated transport. Different ionic and non-ionic water insoluble compounds [trioctylamine (TOA), tributyl phosphate (TBP), trioctylphosphine oxide (TOPO) and methyltrioctylammonium chloride (aliquat 336)] were used as carriers. The liquid membrane was constituted by a solution of n-decanol in the presence or absence of carriers.

RESULTS

Maximum enrichment factors were obtained with n-decanol/aliquat 336 (20%) as organic liquid membrane, sodium hydroxide (NaOH) (0.1 M) as donor solution, sodium chloride (NaCl) (2 M) as acceptor solution and 3 h as extraction time. Under these conditions, good results for validation parameters were obtained [for linearity, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantitation (LOQ) and repeatability].

CONCLUSIONS

The developed method is simple, effective and has been successfully applied to determine catechin and rutin in ethanolic extracts of faba beans.

The potential of electromembrane extraction for bioanalytical applications

Modern requirements in the field of bioanalysis often involve miniaturized, high-throughput sample preparation techniques that consume low amounts of both sample and potentially hazardous organic solvents. Electromembrane extraction is one technique that meets several of these requirements. In this principle analytes are selectively extracted from a biological matrix, through a supported liquid membrane and into an aqueous acceptor solution. The whole extraction process is facilitated by an electric field across the supported liquid membrane, which greatly reduces the extraction time. This review will give a thorough overview of recent advances in bioanalytical applications involving electromembrane extraction, and discuss both possibilities and challenges of the technique in a bioanalytical setting.

Biological sample preparation: attempts on productivity increasing in bioanalysis

Sample preparation is an important step of any biomedical analysis. Development and validation of fast, reproducible and reliable sample preparation methods would be very helpful in increasing productivity. Except for a few direct injection methods, almost all biological samples should at least be diluted before any analysis. Sometimes dilution is not possible because of the low concentration of the target analyte in the sample, and alternative pretreatments, such as filtration, precipitation and sample clean up using different extraction methods, are needed. This review focuses on the recent achievements in the pretreatment of biological samples and investigates them in six categories (i.e., dilution, filtration/dialysis, precipitation, extraction [solid-phase extraction, liquid–liquid extraction], novel techniques [turbulent flow chromatography, immunoaffinity method, electromembrane extraction] and combined methods). Each category will be discussed according to its productivity rate and suitability for routine analysis, and the discussed methods will be compared according to the mentioned indices.

Three-phase hollow-fiber liquid-phase microextraction combined with HPLC-UV for the determination of isothiazolinone biocides in adhesives used for food packaging materials

The present study deals with the development of a liquid microextraction procedure for enhancing the sensitivity of the determination of 2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one and 5-chloro-2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one in adhesives. The procedure involves a three-phase hollow-fiber liquid-phase microextraction using a semipermeable polypropylene membrane, which contained 1-octanol as the organic phase in the pores of the membrane. The donor and acceptor phases are aqueous acidic and alkaline media, respectively, and the final liquid phase (acceptor) is analyzed by HPLC coupled with diode array detection. The most appropriate conditions were extraction time 20 min, stirring speed 1400 rpm, extraction temperature 50°C. The quantification limits of the method were 0.123 and 0.490 μg/g for 2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one and 5-chloro-2-methyl-4-isothiazolin-3-one, respectively. Three different adhesive samples were successfully analyzed. The procedure was compared to direct analysis using ultra high pressure liquid chromatography coupled with TOF-MS, where the identification of the compounds and the quantification values were confirmed.

Liquid-phase microextraction and desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry for identification and quantification of basic drugs in human urine

Hollow fibre liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) and desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (DESI-MS) were evaluated for the identification and quantification of basic drugs in human urine samples. The selective extraction capabilities of three-phase LPME provided a significant reduction in the matrix effects otherwise observed in direct DESI-MS analysis of urine samples. Aqueous LPME extracts (in 10 mM HCl) were deposited on porous Teflon, dried at room temperature, and the dried spots were then analyzed directly with DESI-MS in full scan mode. Pethidine, diphenhydramine, nortriptyline, and methadone were used as model compounds for identification, and their limits of identification were determined to be 100, 25, 100, and 30 ng/mL, respectively. In a reliability test with 19 spiked urine samples, 100% of the positive samples containing the model drugs in concentrations at or above the limit of identification were identified. Diphenhydramine was used as a model compound for quantitative analysis with diphenhydramine-d(5) as an internal standard. The calibration curve was linear in the range 50-2000 ng/mL (R(2) = 0.992) with a limit of quantification at approximately 140 ng/mL. The intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations were <9.5%. In a reliability test with six spiked urine samples, deviations between the measured and the true values for diphenhydramine were in the range 0.2-22.9%.

Bio-sample preparation and analytical methods for the determination of tricyclic antidepressants

An extended and comprehensive review is presented herein, focusing on sample preparation (pretreatment and extraction) and different analytical methods applied for the quantification of tricyclic antidepressants. These procedures are relevant tools in clinical and forensic toxicology. It is revealed that SPE, for sample preparation, and HPLC, using reversed-phase alkyl (C18) or cyanopropyl-bonded silica columns for the analytes separation, are effective and versatile methods for assay of tricyclic antidepressants. These methods enable achievable detection limits using UV/diode array detection, readily available in most laboratories, down to 1–8 ng ml-1, and using electron capture detection better than 1 ng ml-1, which is lower than that for nitrogen–phosphorus detector. MS interfaced with electrospray ionization offered similar sensitivity, whilst sonic spray ionization provided detection down to 0.03 ng ml-1. A brief discussion on chemical structures, metabolism and mechanism of action of this group of drugs is also presented.

Recent advances in enhancing the sensitivity of electrophoresis and electrochromatography in capillaries and microchips (2008-2010)

Capillary electrophoresis has been alive for over two decades now; yet, its sensitivity is still regarded as being inferior to that of more traditional methods of separation such as HPLC. As such, it is unsurprising that overcoming this issue still generates much scientific interest. This review continues to update this series of reviews, first published in Electrophoresis in 2007, with an update published in 2009 and covers material published through to June 2010. It includes developments in the fields of stacking, covering all methods from field-amplified sample stacking and large volume sample stacking, through to ITP, dynamic pH junction and sweeping. Attention is also given to on-line or in-line extraction methods that have been used for electrophoresis.

Selective three-phase liquid phase microextraction of acidic compounds from foodstuff simulants

A three-phase liquid phase microextraction (LPME) technique with high selectivity for five aromatic carboxylic acids and three phenolic compounds has been developed and optimized. The system consists of an acidified donor phase, a thin layer of solvent inside the wall pores of a hollow fiber, and an alkaline acceptor phase located inside the hollow fiber. The analysis of the compounds in the acceptor phase was carried out by capillary electrophoresis with UV detection. Eugenol, thymol, and carvacrol were efficiently extracted from the aqueous solution using chloropentane as organic phase, with recoveries from 73.8% to 93.8%. However, using 2-octanone as the organic phase, the recoveries for the aromatic carboxylic acid compounds ranged from 60.7% to 93.7% whereas the phenols were not extracted. 2,6-naphthalene-dicarboxylic acid was found to remain in the organic phase. The influence of 10% ethanol and 3% acetic acid in the donor phase was deeply studied as these solutions are commonly used as food simulants. AS4 silicone oil was found to be the best organic phase for the extraction of phenols both in 3% acetic acid and matrices with a high content of alcohol. The results obtained are shown and discussed.

Liquid-phase microextraction with porous hollow fibers, a miniaturized and highly flexible format for liquid–liquid extraction

Since 1999, substantial research has been devoted to the development of liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) based on porous hollow fibers. With this technology, target analytes are extracted from aqueous samples, through a thin supported liquid membrane (SLM) sustained in the pores in the wall of a porous hollow fiber, and further into a microL volume of acceptor solution placed inside the lumen of the hollow fiber. After extraction, the acceptor solution is directly subjected to a final chemical analysis by liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC), capillary electrophoresis (CE), or mass spectrometry (MS). In this review, LPME will be discussed with focus on extraction principles, historical development, fundamental theory, and performance. Also, major applications have been compiled, and recent forefront developments will be discussed.