An amino-functionalized mesoporous silica (KIT-6) as a sorbent for dispersive and ultrasonication-assisted micro solid phase extraction of hippuric acid and methylhippuric acid, two biomarkers for toluene and xylene exposure

Rapid determination of hippuric acid as an exposure biomarker of toluene using a colorimetric assay and comparison with high-performance liquid chromatography

Occupational exposure to toluene is associated with health risks that require reliable monitoring methods. Hippuric acid (HA), a urinary metabolite of toluene, serves as a valuable biomarker for such exposure. Colorimetric methods for the quantitative determination of HA have gained prominence due to their simplicity, cost-effectiveness, and suitability for field application. In the present study, a simple colorimetric technique was optimized for the determination of HA in the urine sample, and compared with a usual HPLC technique. The central composite design (CCD) was applied to examine the effective parameters on the colorimetric determination of HA. The calibration curve for HA was established within the concentration range of 6 to 100 mg L-1 with R2 = 0.97. The detection limit (LOD) and quantification limit (LOQ) were determined to be 1.8 mg L-1 and 6 mg L-1 respectively. The relative standard deviation (RSD%) was less than 5%, and the recovery% (R%) was 90.5-100.1. The overall results showed good agreement between the colorimetric and HPLC results. There was a significant relationship between the results obtained from HPLC and colorimetric methods especially for higher concentration levels of HA (≥ 500 mg/g creatinine). In conclusion, our optimized colorimetric method is a simple, cost-effective, and rapid method for determination of HA in occupational exposure, which is comparable with the HPLC technique.

Characterization of the internal working-life exposome using minimally and non-invasive sampling methods - a narrative review

During recent years, we are moving away from the 'one exposure, one disease'-approach in occupational settings and towards a more comprehensive approach, taking into account the totality of exposures during a life course by using an exposome approach. Taking an exposome approach however is accompanied by many challenges, one of which, for example, relates to the collection of biological samples. Methods used for sample collection in occupational exposome studies should ideally be minimally invasive, while at the same time sensitive, and enable meaningful repeated sampling in a large population and over a longer time period. This might be hampered in specific situations e.g., people working in remote areas, during pandemics or with flexible work hours. In these situations, using self-sampling techniques might offer a solution. Therefore, our aim was to identify existing self-sampling techniques and to evaluate the applicability of these techniques in an occupational exposome context by conducting a literature review. We here present an overview of current self-sampling methodologies used to characterize the internal exposome. In addition, the use of different biological matrices was evaluated and subdivided based on their level of invasiveness and applicability in an occupational exposome context. In conclusion, this review and the overview of self-sampling techniques presented herein can serve as a guide in the design of future (occupational) exposome studies while circumventing sample collection challenges associated with exposome studies.

Ultrasonic-Assisted and Microwave-Assisted Extraction of Phenolics and Terpenoids from Abelmoschus sagittifolius (Kurz) Merr Roots Using Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents

This research extracted phenolics and terpenoids from Abelmoschus sagittifolius (Kurz) Merr roots using natural deep eutectic solvent-based novel extraction techniques. Twelve natural deep eutectic solvents (NADESs) were produced for recovering phenolics and terpenoids. Citric acid/glucose and lactic acid/glucose, with a molar ratio of 2:1, were determined as the most appropriate NADESs for extracting phenolics and terpenoids, respectively. Afterward, the proper conditions for NADES-based ultrasonic-assisted and microwave-assisted extraction were investigated. Then, the time and liquid-to-solid ratios of ultrasonic- and microwave-combined extraction methods and the sequence of ultrasound and microwave treatments were examined. The conditions of ultrasonic-assisted extraction were 40 mL/g liquid-to-solid ratio, 40% water content, 30°C, 5 min, and 600 W ultrasonic power for the highest terpenoid recovery at 69 ± 2 mg UA/g dw, while 150 W ultrasonic power was suitable for phenolic recovery at 9.56 ± 0.17 mg GAE/g dw. The conditions of microwave-assisted extraction were 50 mL/g liquid-to-solid ratio, 20% water content, 400 W microwave power, and 2 min to acquire the highest phenolics and terpenoids at 22.13 ± 0.75 mg GAE/g dw and 90 ± 1 mg UA/g dw, respectively. Under appropriate conditions, the biological activities, phenolic content, and terpenoid content of obtained extracts from four extraction methods, including ultrasonic-assisted, microwave-assisted, ultrasonic-microwave-assisted, and microwave-ultrasonic-assisted extraction, were compared to select the most proper method. The conditions of ultrasonic-microwave-assisted extraction were 40 mL/g liquid-to-solid ratio, 5 min sonication, and 1 min microwave irradiation to obtain the highest phenolic and terpenoid contents (27.07 ± 0.27 mg GAE/g dw and 111 ± 3 mg UA/g dw, respectively). Ultrasonic-microwave-assisted extraction showed the highest phenolic content, terpenoid content, and biological activities among the four extraction techniques. The changes in the surface morphology were determined using scanning electron microscopy. This study demonstrated that ultrasonic-microwave-assisted extraction was an effective and sustainable method in food and pharmaceutical industries for recovering phenolics and terpenoids from Abelmoschus sagittifolius (Kurz) Merr.

Effective extraction of the metabolites of toluene and xylene based on a postsynthetic-modified magnetic covalent organic polymer

Toluene and xylene are volatile organic compounds, and long-term exposure to toluene and xylene may cause brain structure and nervous system damage. To evaluate exposure to toluene and xylene in the environment, it is usually possible to monitor their metabolites in organisms, hippuric acid (HA) and methylhippuric acid (MHA). In this work, we designed a new magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) sorbent, zirconium postsynthetic-modified magnetic covalent organic polymer (Fe₃O₄@COP-COOZr), for purifying and enriching HA and 4-MHA. Zirconium ions were immobilized on the magnetic COP surface by postsynthetic modification without the use of additional coating layers or chelating ligands. The developed Fe₃O₄@COP-COOZr interacted with HA and 4-MHA through the π-π stacking effect and electrostatic interactions, as well as strong chelation with coordinatively unsaturated zirconium sites. The promising affinity material of Fe₃O₄@COP-COOZr in MSPE had high stability and recyclability. The established MSPE-HPLC-UV method showed low sorbent consumption (10 mg) and high sensitivity (LODs less than 0.1 μg L^-1), and can be used for the analysis of HA and 4-MHA in real samples. The recoveries of the proposed method in real urine samples for the simultaneous determination of HA and 4-MHA were in the range of 83.5-103.2 %, and the RSDs were 0.9-7.1 %.

A critical review on the synthesis of NH2-MIL-53(Al) based materials for detection and removal of hazardous pollutants

Nowadays, emerging hazardous pollutants have caused many harmful effects on the environment and human health, calling for the state of the art methods for detection, qualification, and treatment. Metal-organic frameworks are porous, flexible, and versatile materials with unique structural properties, which can solve such problems. In this work, we reviewed the synthesis, activation, and characterization, and potential applications of NH₂-MIL-53(Al). This material exhibited intriguing breathing effects, and obtained very high surface areas (182.3-1934 m²/g) with diverse morphologies. More importantly, NH₂-MIL-53(Al) based materials could be used for the detection and removal of various toxic pollutants such as organic dyes, pharmaceuticals, herbicides, insecticides, phenols, heavy metals, and fluorides. We shed light on plausible adsorption mechanisms such as hydrogen bonds, π-π stacking interactions, and electrostatic interactions onto NH₂-MIL-53(Al) adsorbents. Interestingly, NH₂-MIL-53(Al) based adsorbents could be recycled for many cycles with high stability. This review also recommended that NH₂-MIL-53(Al) based materials can be a good platform for the environmental remediation fields.

Bifunctional Amine- and Thiol-Modified Ti3C2Tx MXene for Trace Detection of Heavy Metals

Surface functionalization of two-dimensional (2D) transition metal carbides, nitrides, and carbonitrides, also known as MXenes, is a powerful approach for modification of their physical and chemical properties for new applications. In this study, we demonstrate the synthesis of a bifunctional Ti₃C₂T_x MXene modified with amine and thiol groups through a facile condensation reaction. We successfully employed the resulting NH₂/SH-Ti₃C₂T_x MXene as a solid phase in the ultrasonic-assisted dispersive micro solid-phase extraction (d-μ-SPE) method for the analytical determination of heavy metals at trace levels in food and soil samples. The prepared NH₂/SH-Ti₃C₂T_x MXene showed remarkable performance in the ultrasonic-assisted d-μ-SPE method with limits of detection of 0.12 and 2.30 ng mL^-1, with linear dynamic ranges of 0.50-90 μg L^-1 and 10-120 μg L^-1 for cadmium (Cd²⁺) and lead (Pb²⁺) ions, respectively. Furthermore, the extraction efficiencies were greater than 97%, with a relative standard deviation of less than 3% for five separate batch experiments in the determination of 5.0 μg L^-1 of Cd²⁺ and Pb²⁺. This study shows that NH₂/SH-Ti₃C₂T_x can be used as a simple, rapid, reliable, selective, and sensitive material in the d-μ-SPE method for the trace determination of Cd²⁺ and Pb²⁺ in soil and agricultural products. This study demonstrates the utility of MXenes for analytical chemistry and suggests that further advances in methods for the functionalization of MXenes can open new applications for these already exciting materials.

Extraction and Purification of Inulin from Jerusalem Artichoke with Response Surface Method and Ion Exchange Resins

Inulin is used as an important food ingredient, widely used for its fiber content. In this study the operational extraction variables to obtain higher yields of inulin from Jerusalem artichoke tubers, as well as the optimal conditions, were studied. Response surface methodology and Box-Behnken design were used for optimization of extraction steps. The optimal extraction conditions were as follows: extraction temperature 74 °C, extraction time 65 min, and ratio of liquid to solid 4 mL/g. Furthermore, series connection of ion-exchange resins were used to purify the extraction solution where the optimal resin combinations were D202 strongly alkaline anion resin, HD-8 strongly acidic cation resin, and D315 weakly alkaline resin while the decolorization rate and decreased salinity reached 99.76 and 93.68, respectively. Under these conditions, the yield of inulin was 85.4 ± 0.5%.

Green sample pre-treatment technique coupled with UHPLC-MS/MS for the rapid biomonitoring of dietary poly-unsaturated (omega) fatty acids to predict health risks

Polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) consumption indicates beneficial effects on cardiovascular disease (CVD) and physiological processes in humans. However, the inappropriate ratio of omega-(ω)-PUFA levels in human blood is considered as raising the risk of CVD. Therefore, monitoring dietary ω-FAs in human serum is vital for early diagnosis for individuals to predict CVD risk. This work reports a fast green sample pre-treatment protocol for sensitive and simultaneous monitoring of ω-3-FAs and ω-6-FAs in serum by novel in-syringe-based ultrasonication-assisted alkaline hydrolysis coupled with vortex-induced liquid-liquid microextraction (IS-USAH-VI-LLME) technique connected with UHPLC-MS/MS analysis. Factors affecting extraction recoveries of ten ω-PUFAs by the presented method were well-studied. ω-3 and ω-6 PUFAs demonstrated excellent linearities between the concentrations between 0.1-10,000 ng mL^-1 with good regression coefficients between 0.9910-0.9997. The detection and quantification limits were between 0.05-0.35 and 0.16-1.07 ng mL^-1, demonstrating that the presented method is highly sensitive and versatile. The precision of the technique was <8.2% that deemed acceptable in clinical analysis. Further, the proposed method was applied for ω-PUFAs analysis in human blood samples, and spiked recoveries showed between 80.32-119.34% with <9.82% precision. Results proved that the developed method is green, sensitive, and reliable to simultaneously determine ten ω-PUFAs in human blood samples for clinical diagnosis applications for predicting health hazards.

Study by absorption and emission spectrophotometry of the efficiency of the binary mixture (Ethanol-Water) on the extraction of betanin from red beetroot

In this paper, we intend to present a classical method of extraction and analysis of betanin from Algerian red beetroot, and to know the efficiency of the binary mixture (Ethanol-Water) on the extraction. Also, to know the betanin content of the extract obtained using optical spectroscopic methods. This dye is a natural pigment with high antioxidant power and widely used as a natural dye. In addition, the high bioavailability of this pigment reinforces its potential for future therapeutic applications. However, commercially the betanin content beet extracts never exceeds 1,2% and this molecule does not exist marketed in a more purified form, therefore it is necessary to have efficient tools for the enrichment of betanin extracts. The experimental results made in our laboratory, confirm the effectiveness of the binary mixture (Ethanol-Water) on the betanin extraction from Algerian beetroot, the yield obtained of extracted betanin pigment from red beetroot is 0,342 mg/g, when the mixture of solvents (Ethanol-Water) is used with a large quantity of water. As well as, the betanin has an absorption band varying from 480 nm to 540 nm and it has an emission band at 800 nm.

Analytical techniques for monitoring of toluene and xylene exposure biomarkers hippuric acid and methylhippuric acid in human urine samples

Quantification of hippuric acid and methylhippuric acid in human urine matrices provides information on the toluene and xylene exposure conditions. High performance liquid chromatography coupled with UV detection is the preferable technique for hippuric acid and methylhippuric acid detection in human urine. This study was conducted to present analytical techniques developed for monitoring of hippuric acid and methylhippuric acid in human urine matrices during 2016-2021.

Chitosan biofilms: Insights for the selective electromembrane extraction of fluoroquinolones from biological samples

A selective electromembrane extraction procedure for the extraction of Enrofloxacin, Marbofloxacin and Flumequine, usually employed as antibiotic in veterinarian use, is proposed by using a chitosan biofilm, composed by 60% (w/w) chitosan and 40% (w/w) Aliquat®336, as active biopolymeric support. The interaction mechanism occurring between the target drugs and the biopolymer has been deeply studied using the Quantum Theory of Atoms in Molecules. The obtained results show the interaction between the extracted fluoroquinolones and the biomembrane is stabilized by two hydrogen bonds formed between both the carboxyl and keto groups of the drugs with both the amine and hydroxyl groups of glucosamine in the biopolymer. The energetic results agree with the high extraction efficiency obtained for Marbofloxacin, Enrofloxacin and Flumequine in terms of enrichment factors (83, 82 and 58, respectively) in presence of other fluoroquinolones. Under optimum conditions, the proposed electromembrane extraction method exhibits wide linear ranges of 4.2-200 μg L^-1, 5.6-200 μg L^-1 and 5.1-200 μg L^-1, respectively; low limits of detection close to 1.3 μg L^-1 and appropriate repeatability (relative standard deviation values 4-7%).

Multi-functional porous organic polymers for highly-efficient solid-phase extraction of β-agonists and β-blockers in milk

A simple, accurate, and highly sensitive analytical method was developed in this study for the determination of ten β-agonists and five β-blockers in milk. In this method, new adsorbent phosphonic acid-functionalized porous organic polymers were synthesized through a direct knitting method. The synthesis procedure of the materials and the extraction conditions (such as the composition of loading buffer and eluent) were optimized. Benefitting from the high surface area (545–804 m² g⁻¹), multiple functional framework and good porosity, the phosphonic acid-functionalized porous organic polymers showed a high adsorption rate and high adsorption capacity for β-agonists (224 mg g⁻¹ and 171 mg g⁻¹ for clenbuterol and ractopamine, respectively). The analytes were quantified by ultra-high-performance liquid chromatography coupled to high-resolution tandem mass spectrometry. It showed a good linearity (with R² ranging from 0.9950 to 0.9991 in the linear range of 3–5 orders of magnitude), with low limits of quantification ranging from 0.05 to 0.25 ng g⁻¹. The limits of detection of the method for the analytes were measured to be in the range of 0.02 to 0.1 ng g⁻¹. The recoveries of target analytes from real samples on the material were in the range of 62.4–119.4% with relative standard deviations of 0.6–12.1% (n = 4). Moreover, good reproducibility of the method was obtained with the interday RSD being lower than 11.7% (n = 5) and intraday RSD lower than 12.2% (n = 4). The proposed method was accurate, reliable and convenient for the simultaneous analysis of multiple β-agonists and β-blockers. Finally, the method was successfully applied for the analysis of such compounds in milk samples.

Novel phosphonic acid-functionalized porous organic polymers were synthesized through direct knitting method. It shows high adsorption efficiency and high adsorption capacity for multiple β-agonists and β-blockers analysis.

Preparation of chitosan-modified magnetic Schiff base network composite nanospheres for effective enrichment and detection of hippuric acid and 4-methyl hippuric acid

Chitosan-modified magnetic Schiff base network composite nanospheres (Fe₃O₄@SNW@Chitosan) were prepared for the enrichment and detection of hippuric acid (HA) and 4-methyl hippuric acid (4-MHA) via magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) connected with HPLC. The SNW was one of the covalent organic framework, which constructed through covalent bonds, shown comprising solvent stability, low density and accessible pores. The obtained Fe₃O₄@SNW@Chitosan has many merits as a magnetic sorbent, including a hydrophilic surface, uniform pore size, unique ordered channel structure, and superparamagnetism. The favourable linearity of this MSPE-HPLC method was in the range of 1-1000 μg L^-1, and LODs of HA and 4-MHA were 0.3 μg L^-1 and 0.2 μg L^-1, respectively. The recoveries in urine samples were range from 95.3 to 109.0 % with the RSD less than 9.6 %. When employed for the enrichment of HA and 4-MHA, Fe₃O₄@SNW@Chitosan exhibited great potential as a candidate for preconcentration.

Sensitive and selective determination of triclosan using visual spectroscopy

Triclosan is a commonly used biocide effective against bacterial and fungal infections. However, its overuse in pharmaceutical and personal care products has resulted in its abundance in the natural environment. The detection of triclosan by visual spectroscopy can be carried out using the azo-coupling reaction of diazonium complexes. However, the reaction is also common to other phenolic compounds and aromatic amines, posing significant challenge. In this work, we investigate the azo-coupling reaction of triclosan and several commonly occurring analogous compounds to develop an improved spectroscopic method for the selective determination of triclosan without interference. We find that the azo-coupling reaction between the diazotized derivative and the phenolic compounds is highly dependent on the pH of the reaction media. At pH 7.2, the absorbance of the azo dye product of triclosan shows a peak at 452 nm which has minimal interference from other phenolic azo-dye products with the exception of naphthol. Naphthol shows an interference corresponding to 58% of the analytical signal of equimolar triclosan concentration. To overcome this, we develop an analytical model for the simultaneous determination of triclosan and naphthol from mixed solutions of the compounds. A linear calibration plot from 1.7 to 34 µM was obtained for both triclosan and naphthol with limit-of-detection (LOD) of 0.62 µM and 1.03 µM respectively. The developed protocol was tested for the analysis of water samples collected from various environmental sources spiked with different concentrations of triclosan and naphthol. The samples were enriched by solid-phase-extraction which allowed a 50-fold enhancement in detection of triclosan. The average relative recovery of triclosan in real samples was found to be 98.6% .

Development of sensitive and accurate solid-phase microextraction procedure for preconcentration of As(III) ions in real samples

We synthesized the poly(methyl methacrylate-co-2-aminoethyl methacrylate (PMaema) amphiphilic copolymer in a form of solid phase adsorbent. Then it was used for separation, preconcentration and determination of trace amount of As(III) ions from foods and waters with hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry. The PMaema was characterized by fourier transform infrared spectrometer and nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer. The adsorption of As(III) to the PMaema was also supported using computational chemistry studies. The experimental parameters (pH, PMaema amount, adsorption time and ethanol volume) were optimized using a three-level Box-Behnken design with four experimental factors. We observed linear calibration curve for the PMaema amount in the 10-500 ng L-1 range (R2 = 0.9956). Limit of detection, preconcentration factor and sorbent capacity of PMaema were equal to 3.3 ng L-1, 100 and 75.8 mg g-1, respectively. The average recoveries (spiked at 50 ng L-1) changes in the range of 91.5-98.6% with acceptable relative standard deviation less than 4.3%. After validation studies, the method was successfully applied for separation, preconcentration and determination of trace amount of As(III) from foods and waters.

Deep eutectic solvent functionalized graphene oxide composite adsorbent for miniaturized pipette-tip solid-phase extraction of toluene and xylene exposure biomarkers in urine prior to their determination with HPLC-UV

A deep eutectic solvent functionalized graphene oxide composite adsorbent (DFG) was synthesized through reversible-addition fragmentation chain-transfer polymerization. The synthesized DFG had multiple adsorption interactions after covalent modification with a deep eutectic solvent (allyltriethylammonium bromide/ethylene glycol). Adsorption isotherms and kinetics studies of DFG indicate that the adsorption of hippuric acid (HA) and methylhippuric acid (MHA) was monolayer chemical adsorption. The comparison of DFG with commercial adsorbents demonstrates that the adsorption ability of DFG was superior. This was due to the multiple adsorption interactions of DFG for the three analytes (mainly π-interaction, hydrogen bonding, electrostatic adsorption, and hydrophobic interaction). The DFG adsorbent was applied to miniaturized pipette-tip solid-phase extraction (MPT-SPE), followed by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to determine biomarkers in urine for toluene and xylene exposure. The DFG-MPT-SPE-HPLC method required only 2.00 mg of DFG as adsorbent, 0.50 mL of washing solvent, and 0.40 mL of elution solvent to achieve a wide linear range (0.200-200 μg mL^-1), high recoveries (90.9-99.1%), and high precision (RSD ≤ 6.3%). The proposed method was applied to determine HA and MHA in urine samples from occupational workers. Graphical abstract Deep eutectic solvent functionalized graphene oxide composite adsorbent for miniaturized pipette-tip solid-phase extraction of toluene and xylene exposure biomarkers in urine prior to their determination with HPLC-UV.

Ultrasound-assisted dispersive micro-solid-phase extraction based on N-doped mesoporous carbon and high-performance liquid chromatographic determination of 1-hydroxypyrene in urine samples

In this research, a new ultrasound-assisted dispersive micro-solid-phase extraction method based on N-doped mesoporous carbon sorbent followed by high-performance liquid chromatography equipped with diode array detector for trace measurement of 1-hydroxypyrene as a metabolite of exposure to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons was optimized. Herein, the hard template method was used for the preparation of N-doped mesoporous carbon sorbent. The prepared sorbent was characterized using the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method, transmission electron microscopy, and elemental analysis. Parameters affecting the extraction of the target metabolite were investigated using the Box-Behnken design method. Considering optimum parameters, the plotted calibration curve for 1-hydroxypyrene was linearly correlated with the concentration span of 0.1-50 μg/L for urine media. The accuracy of the optimized procedure was examined through the relative recovery tests on the fortified urine specimens. The relative recoveries fell between 95 and 101%. The method detection limit of the proposed procedure was also calculated to be 0.03 μg/L.

Simultaneous extraction of permethrin diastereomers and deltamethrin in environmental water samples based on aperture regulated magnetic mesoporous silica

The aperture of KIT-6 can influence the recoveries of magnetic solid phase extraction.