Simultaneous determination of several phytohormones in natural coconut juice by hollow fiber-based liquid–liquid–liquid microextraction-high performance liquid chromatography

A simple, selective, sensitive and inexpensive method of hollow fiber-based liquid–liquid–liquid microextraction (HF-LLLME) combined with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-ultraviolet (UV) detection was developed for the determination of four acidic phytohormones (salicylic acid (SA), indole-3-acetic acid (IAA), (±) abscisic acid (ABA) and (±) jasmonic acid (JA)) in natural coconut juice. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report on the use of liquid phase microextraction (LPME) as a sample pretreatment technique for the simultaneous analysis of several phytohormones. Using phenetole to fill the pores of hollow fiber as the organic phase, 0.1 mol L⁻¹ NaOH solution in the lumen of hollow fiber as the acceptor phase and 1 mol L⁻¹ HCl as the donor phase, a simultaneous preconcentration of four target phytohormones was realized. The acceptor phase was finally withdrawn into the microsyringe and directly injected into HPLC for the separation and quantification of the target phytohormones. The factors affecting the extraction efficiency of four phytohormones by HF-LLLME were optimized with orthogonal design experiment, and the data was analyzed by Statistical Product and Service Solutions (SPSS) software. Under the optimized conditions, the enrichment factors for SA, IAA, ABA and JA were 243, 215, 52 and 48, with the detection limits (S/N = 3) of 4.6, 1.3, 0.9 ng mL⁻¹ and 8.8 μg mL⁻¹, respectively. The relative standard deviations (RSDs, n = 7) were 7.9, 4.9, 6.8% at 50 ng mL⁻¹ level for SA, IAA, ABA and 8.4% at 500 μg mL⁻¹ for JA, respectively. To evaluate the accuracy of the method, the developed method was applied for the simultaneous analysis of several phytohormones in five natural coconut juice samples, and the recoveries for the spiked samples were in the range of 88.3–119.1%.     

Supramolecular solvent-based hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction of benzodiazepines

A new, efficient, and environmental friendly hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction (HF-LPME) method based on supramolecular solvents was developed for extraction of five benzodiazepine drugs. The supramolecular solvent was produced from coacervation of decanoic acid aqueous vesicles in the presence of tetrabutylammonium (Bu₄N⁺). In this work, benzodiazepines were extracted from aqueous samples into a supramolecular solvent impregnated in the wall pores and also filled inside the porous polypropylene hollow fiber membrane. The driving forces for the extraction were hydrophobic, hydrogen bonding, and π-cation interactions between the analytes and the vesicular aggregates. High-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection (HPLC-DAD) was applied for separation and determination of the drugs. Several parameters affecting the extraction efficiency including pH, hollow fiber length, ionic strength, stirring rate, and extraction time were investigated and optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the preconcentration factors were obtained in the range of 112–198. Linearity of the method was determined to be in the range of 1.0–200.0 μg L⁻¹ for diazepam and 2.0–200.0 μg L⁻¹ for other analytes with coefficient of determination (R²) ranging from 0.9954 to 0.9993. The limits of detection for the target benzodiazepines were in the range of 0.5–0.7 μg L⁻¹. The method was successfully applied for extraction and determination of the drugs in water, fruit juice, plasma and urine samples and relative recoveries of the compounds studied were in the range of 90.0–98.8%.     

Sequential cloud point extraction for the speciation of mercury in seafood by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry

A novel nonchromatographic speciation technique for the speciation of mercury by sequential cloud point extraction (CPE) combined with inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) was developed. The method based on Hg²⁺ was complexed with I⁻ to form HgI₄²⁻, and the HgI₄²⁻ reacted with the methyl green (MG) cation to form hydrophobic ion-associated complex, and the ion-associated complex was then extracted into the surfactant-rich phase of the non-ionic surfactant octylphenoxypolyethoxyethanol (Triton X-114), which are subsequently separated from methylmercury (MeHg⁺) in the initial solution by centrifugation. The surfactant-rich phase containing Hg(II) was diluted with 0.5 mol L^− 1 HNO₃ for ICP-OES determination. The supernatant is also subjected to the similar CPE procedure for the preconcentration of MeHg⁺ by the addition of a chelating agent, ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC), in order to form water-insolvable complex with MeHg⁺. The MeHg⁺ in the micelles was directly analyzed after disposal as describe above. Under the optimized conditions, the extraction efficiency was 93.5% for Hg(II) and 51.5% for MeHg⁺ with the enrichment factor of 18.7 for Hg(II) and 10.3 for MeHg⁺, respectively. The limits of detection (LODs) were 56.3 ng L^− 1 for Hg(II) and 94.6 ng L^− 1 for MeHg⁺ (as Hg) with the relative standard deviations (RSDs) of 3.6% for Hg(II) and 4.5% for MeHg⁺ (C = 10 μg L⁻¹, n = 7), respectively. The developed technique was applied to the speciation of mercury in real seafood samples and the recoveries for spiked samples were found to be in the range of 93.2–108.7%. For validation, a certified reference material of DORM-2 (dogfish muscle) was analyzed and the determined values are in good agreement with the certified values.     

Hollow fiber-based liquid phase microextraction combined with high-performance liquid chromatography for extraction and determination of some antidepressant drugs in biological fluids

The applicability of hollow fiber-based liquid phase microextraction (HF-LPME) was evaluated for the extraction and preconcentration of three antidepressant drugs (amitriptyline, imipramine and sertraline) prior to their determination by HPLC-UV. The target drugs were extracted from 11.0 mL of aqueous solution with pH 12.0 (source phase) into an organic extracting solvent (n-dodecane) impregnated in the pores of a hollow fiber and finally back extracted into 24 μL of aqueous solution located inside the lumen of the hollow fiber and adjusted to pH 2.1 using 0.1 M of H₃PO₄ (receiving phase). The extraction was performed due to pH gradient between the inside and outside of the hollow fiber membrane. In order to obtain high extraction efficiency, the parameters affecting the HF-LPME including pH of the source and receiving phases, the type of organic phase, ionic strength and volume of the source phase, stirring rate and extraction time were studied and optimized. Under the optimized conditions, enrichment factors up to 300 were achieved and the relative standard deviation (R.S.D.%) of the method was in the range of 2-12%. The calibration curves were obtained in the range of 5-500 μg L⁻¹ with reasonable linearity (R² > 0.998) and the limits of detection (LODs) ranged between 0.5 and 0.7 μg L⁻¹ (based on S/N = 3). Finally, the applicability of the proposed method was evaluated by extraction and determination of the drugs in urine, plasma and tap water samples. The results indicated that hollow fiber microextraction method has excellent clean-up and high-preconcentration factor and can be served as a simple and sensitive method for monitoring of antidepressant drugs in the biological samples.     

A simple method for methylmercury,inorganic mercury and ethylmercury determination in plasma samples by high performance liquid chromatography–cold-vapor-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A simple and sensitive method with a fast sample preparation procedure is proposed for the determination of mercury species in plasma/serum. The method combines online high-performance liquid chromatography separation, Hg cold-vapor formation and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry detection. Prior to analysis, plasma (250 μL) was accurately pipetted into 15 mL conical tubes. Then, an extractant solution containing mercaptoethanol, L-cysteine and HCl was added to the samples following sonication for 10 min. Quantitative mercury extraction was achieved with the proposed procedure. Separation of mercury species was accomplished in less than 8 min on a C8 reverse phase column with a mobile phase containing 3% v/v methanol + 97% v/v (0.5% v/v 2-mercaptoethanol + 0.05% v/v formic acid). The method detection limits were found to be 12 ng L⁻¹, 5 ng L⁻¹ and 4 ng L⁻¹ for inorganic mercury, ethylmercury and methylmercury, respectively. Method accuracy is traceable to Standard Reference Material (SRM) 966 Toxic Metals in Bovine Blood from NIST. Additional validation was provided by the analysis of a secondary reference serum sample from the INSQ-Canada. Finally, the method was successfully applied for the speciation of mercury in plasma samples collected from volunteers exposed to methylmercury through fish consumption. For the first time to our knowledge, levels of different species of Hg in plasma samples from riverside populations exposed to MeHg were determined.     

Speciation analysis of mercury in sediments, zoobenthos and river water samples by high-performance liquid chromatography hyphenated to atomic fluorescence spectrometry following preconcentration by solid phase extraction

A high-pressure microwave digestion was applied for microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) of mercury species from sediments and zoobenthos samples. A mixture containing 3 mol L⁻¹ HCl, 50% aqueous methanol and 0.2 mol L⁻¹ citric acid (for masking co-extracted Fe³⁺) was selected as the most suitable extraction agent. The efficiency of proposed extraction method was better than 95% with R.S.D. below 6%. A preconcentration method utilizing a “homemade” C18 solid phase extraction (SPE) microcolumns was developed to enhance sensitivity of the mercury species determination using on-column complex formation of mercury-2-mercaptophenol complexes. Methanol was chosen for counter-current elution of the retained mercury complexes achieving a preconcentration factor as much as 1000. The preconcentration method was applied for the speciation analysis of mercury in river water samples. The high-performance liquid chromatography-cold vapour atomic fluorescence spectrometric (HPLC/CV-AFS) method was used for the speciation analysis of mercury. The complete separation of four mercury species was achieved by an isocratic elution of aqueous methanol (65%/35%) on a Zorbax SB-C18 column (4.6 mm × 150 mm, 5 μm) using the same complexation reagent (2-mercaptophenol). The limits of detection were 4.3 μg L⁻¹ for methylmercury (MeHg⁺), 1.4 μg L⁻¹ for ethylmercury (EtHg⁺), 0.8 μg L⁻¹ for inorganic mercury (Hg²⁺), 0.8 μg L⁻¹ for phenylmercury (PhHg⁺).     

In situ derivatization and hollow fiber membrane microextraction for gas chromatographic determination of haloacetic acids in water

An alternative method for gas chromatographic determination of haloacetic acids (HAAs) in water using direct derivatization followed by hollow fiber membrane liquid-phase microextraction (HF-LPME) has been developed. The method has improved the sample preparation step according to the conventional US EPA Method 552.2 by combining the derivatization and the extraction into one step prior to determination by gas chromatography electron captured detector (GC-ECD). The HAAs were derivatized with acidic methanol into their methyl esters and simultaneously extracted with supported liquid hollow fiber membrane in headspace mode. The derivatization was attempted directly in water sample without sample evaporation. The HF-LPME was performed using 1-octanol as the extracting solvent at 55 °C for 60 min with 20% Na₂SO₄. The linear calibration curves were observed for the concentrations ranging from 1 to 300 μg L⁻¹ with the correlation coefficients (R²) being greater than 0.99. The method detection limits of most analytes were below 1 μg L⁻¹ except DCAA and MCAA that were 2 and 18 μg L⁻¹, respectively. The recoveries from spiked concentration ranged from 97 to 109% with %R.S.D. less than 12%. The method was applied for determination of HAAs in drinking water and tap water samples. The method offers an easy one step high sample throughput sample preparation for gas chromatographic determination of haloacetic acids as well as other contaminants in water.     

Hollow fiber-based liquid-phase microextraction (HF-LPME) of ibuprofen followed by FIA-chemiluminescence determination using the acidic permanganate-sulfite system

Hollow fiber-based liquid-phase microextraction (HF-LPME) is a relatively new technique employed in analytical chemistry for sample pretreatment which offers more selectivity and sensitivity than any traditional extraction technique. This paper describes a three-phase HF-LPME method for ibuprofen using a polypropylene membrane supporting dihexyl ether followed by a chemiluminescence (CL) determination using the CL enhancement on the acidic permanganate-sulfite system in a FIA configuration which is the first time that both techniques have been combined for analytical purposes. The CL intensity (peak area) was proportional to the log of ibuprofen concentration in the donor phase over the range 0.1-20 μg mL⁻¹. The detection limit was 0.03 μg mL⁻¹ of ibuprofen in the donor phase. The method was satisfactory reproducible and has been applied to the ibuprofen determination in pharmaceuticals and in real human urine samples.     

Hollow fiber based liquid-phase microextraction for the determination of mercury traces in water samples by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry

A three-phase liquid microextraction procedure for the determination of mercury at low concentrations is discussed. To the aqueous sample placed at pH 7 by means of a phosphate buffer, 0.002% (m/v) 1-(2-pyridylazo)-2-naphthol (PAN) is incorporated, and the mixture submitted to microextraction with a hollow-fiber impregnated with toluene and whose lumen contains a 0.05 mol L⁻¹ ammonium iodide solution. The final measurement of the extract is carried out by electrothermal atomic absorption spectrometry (300 °C and 1100 °C for the calcination and atomization temperatures, respectively). The pyrolytic graphite atomizer is coated electrolytically with palladium. An enrichment factor of 270, which results in a 0.06 μg L⁻¹ mercury for the detection limit is obtained. The relative standard deviation at the 1 μg L⁻¹ mercury level is 3.2% (n = 5). The reliability of the procedure is verified by analyzing waters as well as six certified reference materials.     

Rapid determination of total mercury in treated waste water by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry in alkaline medium with sodium hypochlorite solution

Addition of a sodium hypochlorite solution (9.2% (w/v)) was effective to reduce a sulfide interference in determination of organic mercury, including methylmercury and phenylmercury, as well as a previously reported determination of inorganic mercury by cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (CVAAS) in an alkaline medium. Total mercury ranging from 0.17 to 33 μg L⁻¹ in 15 mL of sample solutions containing up to 200 mg L⁻¹ of sulfide can be determined without any serious interference by sulfide when 1 mL of the sodium hypochlorite solution was added after dilution of the sample solution to 25 mL. The proposed method was simple and rapid because no digestion processes were required for the determination of total mercury; the time required for the determination was only about 5 min. The proposed method was applicable to the analysis of treated waste water.     

Determination of methylmercury and inorganic mercury in water samples by slurry sampling cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry in a flow injection system after preconcentration on silica C18 modified

A novel method for preconcentration of methylmercury and inorganic mercury from water samples was developed involving the determination of ng l⁻¹ levels of analytes retained on the silica C₁₈ solid sorbent, previous complexation with ammonium pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (APDC), by slurry sampling cold vapor atomic absorption spectrometry (SS-CVAAS) in a flow injection (FI) system. Several variables were optimized affecting either the retention of both mercury species, such as APDC concentration, silica C₁₈ amount, agitation times, or their determination, including hydrochloric acid concentration in the suspension medium, peristaltic pump speed and argon flow-rate. A Plackett-Burman saturated factorial design permitted to differentiate the influential parameters on the preconcentration efficiency, which were after optimized by the sequential simplex method. The contact time between mercury containing solution and APDC, required to reach an efficient sorption, was decreased from 26 to 3 min by the use of sonication stirring instead of magnetic stirring. The use of 1 mol dm⁻³ hydrochloric acid suspension medium and 0.75% (m/v) sodium borohydride reducing agent permitted the selective determination of methylmercury. The combination of 5 mol dm⁻³ hydrochloric acid and 10⁻⁴% (m/v) sodium borohydride was used for the selective determination of inorganic mercury. The detection limits achieved for methylmercury and inorganic mercury determination under optimum conditions were 0.96 and 0.25 ng l⁻¹, respectively. The reliability of the proposed method for the determination of both mercury species in waters was checked by the analysis of samples spiked with known concentrations of methylmercury and inorganic mercury; quantitative recoveries were obtained.     

Methylmercury and inorganic mercury determination in blood by using liquid chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry and a fast sample preparation procedure

Despite the necessity to differentiate chemical species of mercury in clinical specimens, there are a limited number of methods for this purpose. Then, this paper describes a simple method for the determination of methylmercury and inorganic mercury in blood by using liquid chromatography with inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LC-ICP-MS) and a fast sample preparation procedure. Prior to analysis, blood (250 μL) is accurately weighed into 15-mL conical tubes. Then, an extractant solution containing mercaptoethanol, l-cysteine and HCl was added to the samples following sonication for 15 min. Quantitative mercury extraction was achieved with the proposed procedure. Separation of mercury species was accomplished in less than 5 min on a C18 reverse-phase column with a mobile phase containing 0.05% (v/v) mercaptoethanol, 0.4% (m/v) l-cysteine, 0.06 mol L⁻¹ ammonium acetate and 5% (v/v) methanol. The method detection limits were found to be 0.25 μg L⁻¹ and 0.1 μg L⁻¹ for inorganic mercury and methylmercury, respectively. Method accuracy is traceable to Standard Reference Material (SRM) 966 Toxic Metals in Bovine Blood from the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST). The proposed method was also applied to the speciation of mercury in blood samples collected from fish-eating communities and from rats exposed to thimerosal. With the proposed method there is a considerable reduction of the time of sample preparation prior to speciation of Hg by LC-ICP-MS. Finally, after the application of the proposed method, we demonstrated an interesting in vivo ethylmercury conversion to inorganic mercury.     

A new concept of hollow fiber liquid–liquid–liquid microextraction compatible with gas chromatography based on two immiscible organic solvents

A new concept of liquid–liquid–liquid microextraction (LLLME) was introduced based on applying two immiscible organic solvents in lumen and wall pores of hollow fiber (HF). With this methodology, analytes of interest can be extracted from aqueous sample, into a thin layer of organic solvent (dodecane) sustained in the pores of a porous hollow fiber, and further into a μL volume of organic acceptor (acetonitrile or methanol) located inside the lumen of the hollow fiber. Some chlorophenols (CPs) were selected as model compounds for developing and evaluating of the method performance. The analysis was performed by gas chromatography–electron capture detection (GC–ECD) without derivatization. The factors affecting the HF-LLLME of target compounds were investigated and the optimal extraction conditions were established. Under the optimum conditions, preconcentration factors in a range of 208–895 were obtained. The performance of the proposed method was studied in terms of linear dynamic ranges (LDRs from 0.02 to 100 ng mL⁻¹), linearity (R² ≥ 0.995), precision (RSD % ≤ 8.1) and limits of detection (LODs in the range of 0.006–0.2 ng mL⁻¹). In addition to preconcentration, HF-LLLME also served as a technique for sample clean-up.     

Solid phase chelating extraction and separation of inorganic antimony species in pharmaceutical and water samples for graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry

A separation procedure for antimony(III) and antimony(V) was developed with the use of chelating celluloses. Sb(III) was separately pre-concentrated on imino diacetic acid–ethyl cellulose in the acidic pH range, in which the uptake of Sb(V) was negligible in the μg L^− 1 concentration range. On the other hand, both Sb species Sb(V) and Sb(III) were pre-concentrated on a chloride form of 2,2′-diaminodiethylamine-cellulose. These solid phase extraction procedures were combined with graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry (SPE–GFAAS) for Sb detection. Pharmaceutical compounds of organic and inorganic types (ten compounds), as well as mineral water samples (twelve types) were analyzed. Detection limits of 0.18 µg L^− 1 Sb(III) and 0.25 µg L^− 1 Sb(V) were found in aqueous sample solutions and water samples, respectively, considering a 25-fold pre-concentration. The total Sb, mostly in the form of Sb(V), could be determined in phosphate-containing pharmaceuticals, while in phosphoric acid, Sb(III) was the dominant form. In all other types of samples the Sb content was below the detection threshold, and therefore, the potential suitability of the SPE–GFAAS method for the determination of Sb(III) species was proven by recovery tests of spiked samples. This method ensures the required detection power with regard to the allowable Sb limits established by international organizations.     

A new high-speed hollow fiber based liquid phase microextraction method using volatile organic solvent for determination of aromatic amines in environmental water samples prior to high-performance liquid chromatography

A new and fast hollow fiber based liquid phase microextraction (HF-LPME) method using volatile organic solvents coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was developed for determination of aromatic amines in the environmental water samples. Analytes including 3-nitroaniline, 3-chloroaniline and 4-bromoaniline were extracted from 6 mL basic aqueous sample solution (donor phase, NaOH 1 mol L⁻¹) into the thin film of organic solvent that surrounded and impregnated the pores of the polypropylene hollow fiber wall (toluene, 20 μL), then back-extracted into the 6 μL acidified aqueous solution (acceptor phase, HCl 0.5 mol L⁻¹) in the lumen of the two-end sealed hollow fiber. After the extraction, 5 μL of the acceptor phase was withdrawn into the syringe and injected directly into the HPLC system for the analysis. The parameters influencing the extraction efficiency including the kind of organic solvent and its volume, composition of donor and acceptor phases and the volume ratio between them, extraction time, stirring rate, salt addition and the effect of the analyte complexation with 18-crown-6 ether were investigated and optimized. Under the optimal conditions (donor phase: 6 mL of 1 mol L⁻¹ NaOH with 10% NaCl; organic phase: 20 μL of toluene; acceptor phase: 6 μL of 0.5 mol L⁻¹ HCl and 600 m mol L⁻¹ 18-crown-6 ether; pre-extraction and back-extraction times: 75 s and 10 min, respectively; stirring rate: 800 rpm), the obtained EFs were between 259 and 674, dynamic linear ranges were 0.1-1000 μg L⁻¹ (R > 0.9991), and also the limits of detection were in the range of 0.01-0.1 μg L⁻¹. The proposed procedure worked very well for real environmental water samples with microgram per liter level of the analytes, and good relative recoveries (91-102%) were obtained for the spiked sample solutions.     

Dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction combined with high-performance liquid chromatography-UV detection as a very simple,rapid and sensitive method for the determination of bisphenol A in water samples

Dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC)-UV detection was applied for the extraction and determination of bisphenol A (BPA) in water samples. An appropriate mixture of acetone (disperser solvent) and chloroform (extraction solvent) was injected rapidly into a water sample containing BPA. After extraction, sedimented phase was analyzed by HPLC-UV. Under the optimum conditions (extractant solvent: 142 μL of chloroform, disperser solvent: 2.0 mL of acetone, and without salt addition), the calibration graph was linear in the range of 0.5–100 μg L⁻¹ with the detection limit of 0.07 μg L⁻¹ for BPA. The relative standard deviation (RSD, n = 5) for the extraction and determination of 100 μg L⁻¹ of BPA in the aqueous samples was 6.0%. The results showed that DLLME is a very simple, rapid, sensitive and efficient analytical method for the determination of trace amount of BPA in water samples and suitable results were obtained.     

Liquid–liquid–solid microextraction based on membrane-protected molecularly imprinted polymer fiber for trace analysis of triazines in complex aqueous samples

A novel liquid–liquid–solid microextraction (LLSME) technique based on porous membrane-protected molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP)-coated silica fiber has been developed. In this technique, a MIP-coated silica fiber was protected with a length of porous polypropylene hollow fiber membrane which was filled with water-immiscible organic phase. Subsequently the whole device was immersed into aqueous sample for extraction. The LLSME technique was a three-phase microextraction approach. The target analytes were firstly extracted from the aqueous sample through a few microliters of organic phase residing in the pores and lumen of the membrane, and were then finally extracted onto the MIP fiber. A terbutylazine MIP-coated silica fiber was adopted as an example to demonstrate the feasibility of the novel LLSME method. The extraction parameters such as the organic solvent, extraction and desorption time were investigated. Comparison of the LLSME technique was made with molecularly imprinted polymer based solid-phase microextraction (MIP-SPME) and hollow fiber membrane-based liquid-phase microextraction (HF-LPME), respectively. The LLSME, integrating the advantages of high selectivity of MIP-SPME and enrichment and sample cleanup capability of the HF-LPME into a single device, is a promising sample preparation method for complex samples. Moreover, the new technique overcomes the problem of disturbance from water when the MIP-SPME fiber was exposed directly to aqueous samples. Applications to analysis of triazine herbicides in sludge water, watermelon, milk and urine samples were evaluated to access the real sample application of the LLSME method by coupling with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Low limits of detection (0.006–0.02 μg L⁻¹), satisfactory recoveries and good repeatability for real sample (RSD 1.2–9.6%, n = 5) were obtained. The method was demonstrated to be a fast, selective and sensitive pretreatment method for trace analysis of triazines in complex aqueous samples.     

Investigation of ultraviolet photolysis vapor generation with in-atomizer trapping graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry for the determination of mercury

Generation of mercury vapor by ultraviolet irradiation of mercury solutions in low molecular weight organic acid solutions prior to measurement by Atomic Absorption Spectrometry is a cheap, simple and green method for determination of trace concentrations of mercury. In this work mercury vapor generated by ultraviolet photolysis was trapped onto a palladium coated graphite furnace significantly improving the detection limit of the method. The system was optimized and a detection limit of 0.12 µg L^− 1 (compared to 2.1 µg L^− 1 for a previously reported system in the absence of trapping) with a precision of 11% for a 10 µg L^− 1 mercury standard (RSD, N = 5).     

Extraction of pesticides in water samples using vortex-assisted liquid–liquid microextraction

A simple solvent microextraction method termed vortex-assisted liquid–liquid microextraction (VALLME) coupled with gas chromatography micro electron-capture detector (GC-μECD) has been developed and used for the pesticide residue analysis in water samples. In the VALLME method, aliquots of 30 μL toluene used as extraction solvent were directly injected into a 25 mL volumetric flask containing the water sample. The extraction solvent was dispersed into the water phase under vigorously shaking with the vortex. The parameters affecting the extraction efficiency of the proposed VALLME such as extraction solvent, vortex time, volumes of extraction solvent and salt addition were investigated. Under the optimum condition, enrichment factors (EFs) in a range of 835–1115 and limits of detection below 0.010 μg L⁻¹ were obtained for the determination of target pesticides in water. The calculated calibration curves provide high levels of linearity yielding correlation coefficients (r²) greater than 0.9958 with the concentration level ranged from 0.05 to 2.5 μg L⁻¹. Finally, the proposed method has been successfully applied to the determination of pesticides from real water samples and acceptable recoveries over the range of 72–106.3% were obtained.     

Direct determination of chlorophenols in water samples through ultrasound-assisted hollow fiber liquid–liquid–liquid microextraction on-line coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography

In this study we on-line coupled hollow fiber liquid–liquid–liquid microextraction (HF-LLLME), assisted by an ultrasonic probe, with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). In this approach, the target analytes – 2-chlorophenol (2-CP), 3-chlorophenol (3-CP), 2,6-dichlorophenol (2,6-DCP), and 3,4-dichlorophenol (3,4-DCP) – were extracted into a hollow fiber (HF) supported liquid membrane (SLM) and then back-extracted into the acceptor solution in the lumen of the HF. Next, the acceptor solution was withdrawn on-line into the HPLC sample loop connected to the HF and then injected directly into the HPLC system for analysis. We found that the chlorophenols (CPs) could diffuse quickly through two sequential extraction interfaces – the donor phase – SLM and the SLM – acceptor phase – under the assistance of an ultrasonic probe. Ultrasonication provided effective mixing of the extracted boundary layers with the bulk of the sample and it increased the driving forces for mass transfer, thereby enhancing the extraction kinetics and leading to rapid enrichment of the target analytes. We studied the effects of various parameters on the extraction efficiency, viz. the nature of the SLM and acceptor phase, the compositions of the donor and acceptor phases, the fiber length, the stirring rate, the ion strength, the sample temperature, the sonication conditions, and the perfusion flow rate. This on-line extraction method exhibited linearity (r² ≥ 0.998), sensitivity (limits of detection: 0.03–0.05 μg L⁻¹), and precision (RSD% ≤ 4.8), allowing the sensitive, simple, and rapid determination of CPs in aqueous solutions and water samples with a sampling time of just 2 min.