Highly sensitive analysis of substituted aniline compounds in water samples by using oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes as an in-tube solid-phase microextraction medium

Innovative extraction materials for fiber-in-tube solid phase microextraction: A review

Fiber-in-tube solid-phase microextraction (fiber-in-tube SPME) with short capillary longitudinally packed with fine fibers as extraction device allows direct coupling to high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) systems to determine weakly volatile or thermally labile compounds. This technique associates the advantages of miniaturized and analytical on-line systems. Major achievements include the use of different capillaries (fused-silica, copper, stainless steel, polyetheretherketone (PEEK), or poly(tetrafluoroethylene) (PTFE)) that are packed with neat fibers (Zylon®, silk, or Kevlar 29®) or fibers (stainless steel, basalt, or carbon) functionalized with selective coatings (aerogels, ionic liquids (ILs), polymeric ionic liquids (PILs), molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), layered double hydroxides (LDHs), or conducting polymer). This review outlines the fundamental theory and the innovative extraction materials for fiber-in-tube SPME-HPLC systems and highlights their main applications in environmental and bioanalyses.

On-site sample preparation of trace aromatic amines in environmental waters with monolith-based multichannel in-tip microextraction apparatus followed by HPLC determination

A novel on-site preparation strategy for the determination of trace aromatic amines (AAs) in environmental waters was developed in the present study. To extract AAs effectively, 4-vinylbenzoic acid was copolymerized with ethylene dimethacrylate (ED)/divinylbenzene (DVB) in a pipette tip to obtain a new monolith-based adsorbent (MBA). The MBAs were employed as the extraction phases of home-made multichannel in-tip microextraction apparatus (ITMA) which was used to perform field sample preparation of AAs in different water samples followed by HPLC/DAD analysis. Due to the abundant functional groups, the prepared MBA displayed satisfying extraction performance for studied AAs. Under the optimized conditions, limits of detection varied from 2.1 to 26 ng/L with good coefficients of determination and precision. The recoveries for real water samples with different fortified concentrations were in the range of 78.1-119%, and the RSD values varied from 0.85 to 11%. In addition, the results achieved with the introduced method were well comparable to that obtained with conventional laboratory sample pretreatment process. Compared with existing approaches, the proposed method exhibits some merits such as s high throughput, good sensitivity and eco-friendliness. Most of important, the MBA/ITMA for on-site preparation avoids the storage and transportation of large volumes of waters, and guarantees the analytical accuracy of studied AAs.

Bioanalytical HPLC Applications of In-Tube Solid Phase Microextraction: A Two-Decade Overview

In-tube solid phase microextraction is a cutting-edge sample treatment technique offering significant advantages in terms of miniaturization, green character, automation, and preconcentration prior to analysis. During the past years, there has been a considerable increase in the reported publications, as well as in the research groups focusing their activities on this technique. In the present review article, HPLC bioanalytical applications of in-tube SPME are discussed, covering a wide time frame of twenty years of research reports. Instrumental aspects towards the coupling of in-tube SPME and HPLC are also discussed, and detailed information on materials/coatings and applications in biological samples are provided.

Characteristics and Health Risk Assessment of Semi-Volatile Organic Contaminants in Rural Pond Water of Hebei Province

Pond water as surface water has certain environmental impacts on environmental media such as groundwater, lakes, atmosphere, and soil. Organic pollutants present in pond water may pose health risks to humans, but research on organic pollutants in pond water is rare. Here, taking pond water collected in rural areas of Hebei province as the sample, we analyzed and evaluated four categories of semi-volatile organic compounds (SVOCs), including 11 phenolic compounds, 7 aniline compounds, 16 parent polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), 14 PAH derivatives, and 16 phthalate esters (PAEs). The results show that the 10 water samples contained 26.2–17034 ng/L of Σ phenols, 33.7–2612 ng/L of Σ anilines, 33.9–1651 ng/L of Σ PAHs, and 59.0–2800 ng/L of Σ PAEs. Furthermore, non-carcinogenic risk and carcinogenic risk caused by SVOCs through direct ingestion and dermal exposure were also assessed. The current levels of non-carcinogenic risks and carcinogenic risks through these two means of exposure are within acceptable limits, except for the site 1 and site 5 in Hebei province where a total cancer risk exceeds 10⁻⁶. It can be concluded that the pond water studied had a low risk of carcinogenicity to the human.

An organically modified silica aerogel for online in-tube solid-phase microextraction

Aerogels have received considerable attentions because of its porous, high specific surface, unique properties and environmental friendliness. In this work, an organically modified silica aerogel was functionalized on the basalt fibers (BFs) and filled into a poly(ether ether ketone) (PEEK) tube, which was coupled with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for in-tube solid-phase microextraction (IT-SPME). The aerogel was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and fourier transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR). The extraction efficiency of the tube was systematically investigated and shown enrichment factors from 2346 to 3132. An automated, sensitive and selective method was developed for the determination of five estrogens. The linear range was from 0.03 to 100μgL^-1 with correlation coefficients (r) higher than 0.9989, and low detection limits (LODs) were 0.01-0.05μgL^-1. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) for intra-day and inter-day were less than 4.5% and 6.7% (n=6), respectively. Finally, the analysis method was successfully applied to detect estrogens in sewage and emollient water samples.

Detection of organophosphorous pesticides in soil samples with multiwalled carbon nanotubes coating SPME fiber

A headspace solid phase microextraction (HS-SPME) technique using stainless steel fiber coated with 20 μm multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and gas chromatography with thermionic specific detector (GC-TSD) was developed to determine organophosphorous pesticides (OPPs) in soil. Parameters affecting the extraction efficiency such as extraction time and temperature, ionic strength, the volume of water added to the soil, sample solution volume to headspace volume ratio, desorption time, and desorption temperature were investigated and optimized. Compared to commercial polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS, 7 μm) fiber, the PDMS fiber was better to be corrected as phorate, whereas the MWCNTs fiber gave slightly better results for methyl parathion, chlorpyrifos and parathion. The optimized SPME method was applied to analyze OPPs in spiked soil samples. The limits of detection (LODs, S/N = 3) for the four pesticides were <0.216 ng g(-1), and their calibration curves were all linear (r (2) ≥ 0.9908) in the range from 1 to 200 ng g(-1). The precision (RSD, n = 6) for peak areas was 6.5 %-8.8 %. The recovery of the OPPs spiked real soil samples at 50 and 150 ng g(-1) ranged from 89.7 % to 102.9 % and 94.3 % to 118.1 %, respectively.

Sensitive determination of chloroanilines in water samples by hollow fiber-based liquid-phase microextraction prior to capillary electrophoresis with amperometric detection

A hollow fiber-based liquid-phase microextraction method has been developed for enrichment of trace chloroanilines in water samples. Target analytes including aniline, three mono-chlorinated aniline isomers (o-chloroaniline, m-chloroaniline, and p-chloroaniline) and four mono-chlorinated methylaniline isomers (2-chloro-4-methylaniline, 3-chloro-4-methylaniline, 4-chloro-2-methylaniline, and 5-chloro-2-methylaniline) were determined by CE with amperometric detection after microextraction. Several factors that affect separation, detection, and extraction efficiency were investigated. Under the optimum conditions, eight aniline compounds could be well separated from other components coexisting in water samples within 25 min, exhibiting a linear calibration over three orders of magnitude (r > 0.998); the obtained enrichment factors were between 51 and 239, and the LODs were in the range of 0.01-0.1 ng/mL. The proposed method has been applied for the analyses of real environmental water and sewage samples with relative recoveries in the range of 83-108%.

Selective separation and preconcentration of copper (II) in environmental samples by the solid phase extraction on multi-walled carbon nanotubes

A solid phase extraction method for selective separation-preconcentration of copper (II) on multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWNTs) prior to its flame atomic absorption spectrometric determinations has been investigated. The adsorption was achieved quantitatively on MWNTs column at pH 7.0, then the retained Cu(II) contents on the column were quantitatively eluted with 2M HNO(3). The effects of analytical parameters including pH of the solution, eluent type, sample volume, flow rates of eluent, matrix ions etc. were investigated for optimization of the presented procedure. The preconcentration factor was 60. The detection limit for copper (II) was found as 1.46 microg/L. The method was applied to the determination of copper in environmental samples and reproducible results were obtained.