Ionic liquid-based totally organic solvent-free emulsification microextraction coupled with high performance liquid chromatography for the determination of three acaricides in fruit juice

Ionic Liquid-Based Extraction Strategy for the Efficient and Selective Recovery of Scandium

The recovery of scandium (Sc) from highly acidic industrial effluents is currently hindered by the use of large quantities of flammable and toxic organic solvents. This study developed an extraction system using ionic liquids (ILs) and phenylphosphinic acid (PPAH) as diluents and an extractant, respectively, to selectively recover Sc from the aqueous phase. The effect of IL chemical structure, aqueous pH and temperature on the extraction of Sc was systematically investigated and the findings revealed that ILs with longer alkyl side chains had reduced Sc extraction ability due to the presence of continuous nonpolar domains formed by the self-aggregation of the IL alkyl side chain. The IL/PPAH system maintained high extraction ability toward Sc across a wide temperature range (288 K to 318 K) and the extraction efficiency of Sc could be improved significantly by increasing the aqueous pH. The extraction process involved proton exchange, resulting in the formation of a metal-ligand complex (Sc(PPA)3).

Precision environmental health monitoring by longitudinal exposome and multi-omics profiling

Conventional environmental health studies have primarily focused on limited environmental stressors at the population level, which lacks the power to dissect the complexity and heterogeneity of individualized environmental exposures. Here, as a pilot case study, we integrated deep-profiled longitudinal personal exposome and internal multi-omics to systematically investigate how the exposome shapes a single individual's phenome. We annotated thousands of chemical and biological components in the personal exposome cloud and found they were significantly correlated with thousands of internal biomolecules, which was further cross-validated using corresponding clinical data. Our results showed that agrochemicals and fungi predominated in the highly diverse and dynamic personal exposome, and the biomolecules and pathways related to the individual's immune system, kidney, and liver were highly associated with the personal external exposome. Overall, this data-driven longitudinal monitoring study shows the potential dynamic interactions between the personal exposome and internal multi-omics, as well as the impact of the exposome on precision health by producing abundant testable hypotheses.

Novel hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent for vortex-assisted liquid phase microextraction of common acaricides in fruit juice followed by HPLC-UV determination

In the present research, several novel and natural hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents (DESs) were prepared using methyltrioctylammonium chloride (MTOAC) as the hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA) and different types of straight chain alcohols as hydrogen bond donors (HBDs). One of the DESs composed of MTOAC and n-butanol was advantageously used to develop a vortex-assisted liquid phase microextraction (VALPME) method combined with high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) for the determination of common acaricides in fruit juice samples. Several important parameters influencing extraction efficiency were investigated and optimized, including the type and volume of DES, sample solution pH, effect of salt addition and, extraction and vortex time. Under optimal experimental conditions, the method showed good linearity with the correlation coefficients (R 2) of 0.9986-0.9991 in the linear range of 2-300 μg L-1, low limits of detection of 0.5-1 μg L-1 and acceptable extraction recoveries in the range of 85-93%. The proposed method was successfully applied for the extraction and preconcentration of trace acaricides in real fruit juice samples, and the results demonstrated the potential of the synthesized DESs for the extraction and determination of contaminants in aqueous samples.

The Exposome in the Era of the Quantified Self

Human health is regulated by complex interactions among the genome, the microbiome, and the environment. While extensive research has been conducted on the human genome and microbiome, little is known about the human exposome. The exposome comprises the totality of chemical, biological, and physical exposures that individuals encounter over their lifetimes. Traditional environmental and biological monitoring only targets specific substances, whereas exposomic approaches identify and quantify thousands of substances simultaneously using nontargeted high-throughput and high-resolution analyses. The quantified self (QS) aims at enhancing our understanding of human health and disease through self-tracking. QS measurements are critical in exposome research, as external exposures impact an individual's health, behavior, and biology. This review discusses both the achievements and the shortcomings of current research and methodologies on the QS and the exposome and proposes future research directions.

Humic acid functionalized hyperbranched polytriazine based dispersive solid-phase extraction for acaricides determination in tea matrix

Hyperbranched polytriazine functionalized with humic acid was prepared and developed as new sorbents for dispersive solid-phase extraction of three acaricides (clofentezine, fenpyroximate, and pyridaben) in tea samples combined with high-performance liquid chromatography detection. The sorbents were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy dispersive spectroscopy, Zeta-potential, and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy. The extraction parameters (extraction time, ionic strength, desorption conditions) were optimized. The adsorption mechanism was evaluated utilizing Fourier transform infrared spectra. Under optimum conditions, satisfactory analytical performances were achieved, which included high precision (1.33-9.62%), low limits of detection (0.19-3.54 µg/L), and wide linear range (2.5-500 µg/L) for the analysis of the acaricides. Moreover, the proposed method proved highly effective for the determination of acaricides in tea samples, with the relative recoveries in the range of 65.20-108.13% and relative standard deviations < 9.87%. The method has great application potential for the detection of acaricides in tea samples.

Magnetic zinc oxide nanoflower-assisted ionic liquid-based nanofluid dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction for the rapid determination of acaricides in tea infusions

An ionic liquid based nanofluid with magnetic zinc oxide as a nanoparticle additive was used for the quick determination of acaricides.

Multiresidue method for the simultaneous determination of 16 acaricides by modified quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe extraction and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry in citrus

An ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry analytical method was developed for simultaneously determining 16 acaricides in citrus based on an optimized quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, safe strategy. Good linearities of the standard curve of 5-1000 μg/kg was obtained with regression coefficients higher than 0.9967. Recoveries for all compounds ranged from 72 to 111% with relative standard deviations lower than 14.4% at spiked levels of 5, 50, and 500 μg/kg. Low limits of detection and quantification were readily achieved ranging from 0.05 to 2.7 and 0.10 to 4.3 μg/kg, respectively. Matrix effects were also evaluated for 16 targets with most compounds achieved signal enhancement. Citrus peel gave the highest extent matrix effects, followed by whole citrus and pulp. Finally, this method was successfully applied to detect acaricides residues in real citrus samples. The results showed that pyridaben and quinalphos were the two most frequent and high-concentration compounds with concentrations exceeding the maximum residue limits in five samples, suggesting that the use of these acaricides should be regulated in China in the future.