Speciation of alkyllead in aqueous samples with application of liquid membrane probe for extraction and preconcentration

Lead is known to be toxic, especially in its organic forms (organolead, OL). In the environment tetraalkyllead species are rapidly degraded by sunlight and atmospheric constituents like ozone or hydroxyl radicals. Such breakdown yields the soluble forms such as trialkyllead and dialkyllead and finally ionic lead species. The liquid membrane extraction probe (LMP) device has been developed and used as an extraction and preconcentration tool for the speciation analysis of organolead compounds by GC/MS. It allows analysis of OL species at low concentrations in complicated matrices of environmental samples. The effect of pH, stirring rate, and time that influence the extraction efficiency of OL extraction by the LMP method were optimized. The transformation of tetramethyllead in aqueous media at different concentrations of major ions K(+), Na(+), Ca(2+), Mg(2+), Cl(-), SO(4)(2-) and the application of LMP to environmental samples are presented. It was found that degradation of tetramethyllead takes between 24 and 37 days. The detection limit (LOD) of the method for all organolead species investigated is around 4.7 microg/L, with a limit of quantitation of 15 microg/L.     

In‐line coupling of supported liquid membrane extraction across nanofibrous membrane to capillary electrophoresis for analysis of basic drugs from undiluted body fluids

Planar polyamide 6 nanofibrous membrane was for the first time used in direct coupling of supported liquid membrane (SLM) extraction to CE analysis. Disposable microextraction device with the nanofibrous membrane was preassembled and stored for immediate use. The membrane in the device was impregnated with 1 µL of 1‐ethyl‐2‐nitrobenzene and the device was subsequently filled with 10 µL of acceptor solution (10 mM HCl) and 15 µL of donor solution (sample). The device was in‐line coupled to CE system for selective extraction and direct injection, separation and quantification of model basic drugs (nortriptyline, haloperidol, loperamide and papaverine) from standard saline solutions (150 mM NaCl) and from undiluted human body fluids (urine and blood plasma). Compared to standard polypropylene supporting material, the nanofibrous membrane demonstrated superior characteristics in terms of lower consumption of organic solvents, constant volumes of operational solutions, full transparency and possibility to preassemble the devices. Extraction parameters were better or comparable for the nanofibrous vs. the polypropylene membrane and the hyphenated SLM‐CE method with the nanofibrous membrane was characterized by good repeatability (RSD ≤ 11.3%), linearity (r² ≥ 0.9953; 0.5–20 mg/L), sensitivity (LOD ≤ 0.4 mg/L) and transfer (27–126%) of the basic drugs.     

Extraction of molybdenum by a supported liquid membrane method

This is a report on the extraction of molybdenum(VI) ions using a supported liquid membrane, prepared by dissolving in kerosene, the extractant Alamine 336 (a long-chain tertiary amine) employed as mobile carrier. A flat hydrophobic microporous membrane was utilised as solid support. Appropriate conditions for Mo(VI) extraction through the liquid membrane were obtained from the results of liquid-liquid extraction and stripping partition experiments. The influence of feed solution acidity, the carrier extractant concentration in the organic liquid film and the content of strip agent on the metal flux through membrane were investigated. It was established that maximal extraction of metal is achieved at a pH 2.0 if sulphuric acid is used in the feed solution and at a pH value over 11.0 if Na₂CO₃ is used as strip agent. Moreover, the molybdenum extraction through membrane is enhanced when a 0.02 mol l⁻¹ content of the amine carrier in the organic phase is used. The present paper deals with an equilibrium investigation of the extraction of Mo(VI) by Alamine 336 and its permeation conditions through the liquid membrane, and examines a possible mechanism of extraction.     

Instability mechanisms of supported liquid membranes for copper (II) ion extraction

The instability of supported liquid membranes (SLMs) for use in copper (II) ion extraction was investigated in this paper. The degradation behavior of these SLMs was monitored in situ by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS). The electrical properties of a SLM cell can be described by an equivalent circuit, R_s(C_mR_m)Q. The model parameters, membrane resistance (R_m) and membrane capacitance (C_m) can be used to characterize the degradation behavior of SLMs. Experimental data for R_m and C_m indicated that the loss of membrane liquid (ML) during the mass transfer process consists of three stages. Results also suggest that emulsion formation was the dominant instability mechanism for these SLMs. The solubility and osmotic pressure were also shown to not be major factors contributing to the instability although both contributed to the loss of the liquid membrane. The pore size of the polymeric support increased during the first run but remained almost constant in subsequent runs.     

Multiresidue determination of sulfonamides in a variety of biological matrices by supported liquid membrane with high pressure liquid chromatography-electrospray mass spectrometry detection

A high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) coupled to a mass spectrometer (MS) was used for a simultaneous determination of 16 sulfonamide compounds spiked in water, urine, milk, and bovine liver and kidney tissues. Supported liquid membrane (SLM) made up of 5% tri-n-octylphosphine oxide (TOPO) dissolved in hexyl amine was used as a sample clean-up and/or enrichment technique. The sulfonamides mixture was made up of 5-sulfaminouracil, sulfaguanidine, sulfamethoxazole, sulfamerazine, sulfamethizole, sulfamethazine (sulfadimidine), sulfacetamide, sulfapyridine, sulfabenzamide, sulfamethoxypyridazine, sulfamonomethoxine, sulfadimethoxine sulfasalazine, sulfaquinoxaline, sulfadiazine, and sulfathiazole. Some of these compounds, such as, sulfaquinoxaline, sulfadiazine, sulfabenzamide, sulfathiazole and sulfapyridine failed to be trapped efficiently by the same liquid membrane (5% TOPO in hexylamine). The detection limits (DL) obtained were 1.8 ppb for sulfaguanidine and sulfamerazine and between 3.3 and 10 ppb in bovine liver and kidney tissues for the other sulfonamides that were successfully enriched with SLM; 2.1 ppb for sulfaguanidine and sulfamerazine and between 7.5 and 15 ppb in cow’s urine, whereas the DL values in milk were 12.4 ppb for sulfaguanidine and sulfamerazine and between 16.8 and 24.3 for the other compounds that were successfully enriched by the membrane. Several factors affecting the extraction efficiency during SLM enrichment, such as donor pH, acceptor pH, enrichment time and the membrane solvent were studied.     

Extraction of lutetium(III) from aqueous solutions by employing a single fibre‐supported liquid membrane

Transport behaviour of Lu(III) across a polypropylene hollow fibre‐supported liquid membrane containing di(2‐ethylhexyl)phosphoric acid (DEHPA) in dihexyl ether as a carrier has been studied. The donor phase was LuCl₃ in the buffer solution consisting of 0.2 M sodium acetate at pH 2.5–5.0. A miniaturised system with a single hollow fibre has been operated in a batch mode. The concentration of Lu(III) was determined by indirect voltammetric method using Zn–EDTA complex. The effect of pH and volume of the donor phase, DEHPA concentration in the organic (liquid membrane) phase, the time of extraction and the content of the acceptor phase on the Lu(III) extraction and stripping behaviour was investigated. The results were discussed in terms of the pertraction and removal efficiency, the memory effect and the mean flux of Lu(III). The optimal conditions for the removal of ¹⁷⁷Lu(III) from labelled ¹⁷⁷Lu‐radiopharmaceuticals were discussed and identified. The removal efficiency of Lu(III) greater than 99% was achieved at pH of the donor phase between 3.5 and 5.0 using DEHPA concentration in the organic phase of 0.47 M and the ratio of the donor to the acceptor phase of 182.     

支撑液膜在线萃取流动注射光度法测定水中挥发酚

酚类污染物是一类重要的污染物,对很多水生生物有毒,并且可通过食物链进行生物富集,因此,挥发酚的检测对环境污染控制和环境保护具有重要意义。苯酚是中国环境优先监测物中6种酚类物质之一。酚类物质的测定方法主要有气相色谱法、液相色谱法、光度法等。4-氨基安替比林（4-AAP）分光光度法是目前国际上普遍采用的标准方法,但该方法操作繁琐。如将此法应用于流动注射自动分析,虽然可以省去繁琐的操作,但废水中其它离子的干扰严重,必须进行预蒸馏才能进行测定,且检测限高,不能满足低浓度分析检测的需要。     

支撑液膜在线萃取富集流动注射荧光光度法测定水中痕量苯酚

选用无毒性的磷酸三丁酯为流动载体, 煤油为膜溶剂的液膜萃取体系, 建立了支撑液膜在线萃取富集流动注射荧光光度法测定水中痕量苯酚的新方法. 对实验条件进行了优化. 方法的检出限为0.4 μg/L, 线性范围为1～180 μg/L.     

Kinetic electro membrane extraction under stagnant conditions—Fast isolation of drugs from untreated human plasma

Amitriptyline, citalopram, fluoxetine, and fluvoxamine were isolated by electro membrane extraction (EME) from 70 μl of untreated plasma (pH 7.4), through a supported liquid membrane (SLM) of 1-ethyl-2-nitrobenzene immobilized in the pores of a porous polypropylene hollow fiber, and into 30 μl of 10 mM HCOOH as acceptor solution inside the lumen of the hollow fiber. The driving force of the extraction was a 9 V potential sustained over the SLM with a common battery, with the positive electrode placed in the plasma sample and the negative electrode placed in the acceptor solution. Extractions were performed under totally stagnant conditions with a very simple device for 1 min (kinetic regime), and subsequently the acceptor solution was analyzed directly by liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS). Recoveries were 12, 13, 22, and 17% for fluoxetine, amitriptyline, citalopram, and fluvoxamine, respectively. Sample clean-up was comparable to reversed-phase solid-phase extraction (SPE), but EME required substantially less time than SPE. The time advantage of EME was further improved by parallel extraction of three samples (for 1 min) with the same 9 V battery. EME from plasma combined with LC–MS provided limits of quantification (S/N = 10) in the range 0.4–2.3 ng/ml, linearity in the range 1–1000 ng/ml with r²-values of 0.998–0.999, and repeatability in the range 3.2–8.9% RSD in the mid-therapeutic window (100 ng/ml).     

Separation of lignosulfonate from its aqueous solution using supported liquid membrane

This paper presents an experimental and theoretical study on facilitated transport of lignosulfonate (LS) through a flat sheet supported liquid membrane using trioctylamine (TOA) as carrier and dichloroethane as diluent. The studies were carried out with various support materials and operating conditions (viz. carrier concentration, strip phase concentration, salt concentration, etc.) and their effects on the transport of LS. The results were analyzed to identify a suitable combination of support and operating condition that would yield best performance of the supported liquid membrane (SLM) in terms of fast and efficient transport of LS. The stability of the SLM was assessed in terms of loss of liquid from the pores of membrane support. The SLM is found to be stable till 10 h. Co-transport mechanism has been adopted in this work by using NaOH as the strip phase. It was observed that extraction of LS is increased with increase in concentration of NaOH up to a limiting value of 0.5 M NaOH. Difference of salt concentration between feed and strip phase considerably affect the separation process. The diffusional resistances of organic membrane (Δorg) and aqueous solution (Δaq) calculated from the permeation model, which is again a combination of three unique mechanisms viz., diffusion through a feed aqueous layer, a fast interfacial chemical reaction, and diffusion of carrier–complex through the organic membrane, are found to be 609.9 and 176.6 s cm⁻¹, respectively. The values of the diffusion coefficient in the membrane (D_org) and in the bulk organic phase (D_complex) are 1.67×10⁻⁹ and 6.68 × 10⁻⁸ m²s⁻¹, respectively. The extraction of LS is about 90%. Nearly 43% of LS can be recovered at optimum condition.     

Comparative study of sample preparation methods; supported liquid membrane and solid phase extraction in the determination of benzimidazole anthelmintics in biological matrices by liquid chromatography-electrospray-mass spectrometry

Supported liquid membrane (SLM) and solid phase extraction (SPE) have been applied as clean-up and/or enrichment techniques for a mixture of five benzimidazole anthelmintics compounds, namely albendazole, fenbendazole, mebendazole, oxibendazole, and thiabendazole. Two biological matrices, mainly urine and milk, and ultra high purity (UHP) water were spiked with a mixture of these five compounds. Waters Oasis^® MCX and International Sorbent Technology (IST) HCX SPE sorbents were used. The liquid membrane used for clean-up and/or enrichment of these compounds was 5% tri-n-octylphosphine oxide (TOPO) dissolved in n-undecane/di-n-hexyl ether (1:1). The SLM extraction efficiencies and SPE percentage recoveries ranged between 60 and 100%. The detection limits (DLs) for different benzimidazole compounds by SPE/LC-ES-MS for thiabendazole, oxibendazole, and albendazole was 0.1 ng/L, for fenbendazole and mebendazole was 1 and 10 ng/L, respectively. Similarly, the detection limits of SLM/LC-ES-MS for thiabendazole, oxibendazole, and albendazole was 0.1 ng/L and for fenbendazole and mebendazole was 1 ng/L. The results of optimization of various parameters of the SLM method are reported.     

Electromembrane extraction of peptides--fundamental studies on the supported liquid membrane

A large screening of different components in the supported liquid membrane (SLM) in electromembrane extraction (EME) was performed to test the extraction efficiency on eight model peptides. Electromembrane extraction from a 500 μL acidified aqueous sample containing the model peptides in the concentration 10 μg/mL was used. Extraction time was 5 min with an electric potential of 10 V and 900 rpm agitation of the sample vial. The samples were extracted through a hollow fiber-based SLM with different compositions of organic solvents and carriers. A small volume of acidified acceptor solution (25 μL) was after extraction analyzed directly, or with some dilution, on CE or HPLC. This article has identified mono- or di-substituted phosphate groups as the prominent group of carrier molecules needed to obtain acceptable recoveries. For the organic solvents, primary alcohols and ketones have shown promise regarding recovery and reproducibility, with some differences in selectivity. A new composition of the SLM, namely 2-octanone and tridecyl phosphate (90:10 w/w) has proved to give higher extraction recoveries and lower standard deviation than SLMs previously reported in the literature.     

Direct determination of chlorophenols present in liquid samples by using a supported liquid membrane coupled in-line with capillary electrophoresis equipment

Actually there is a great trend on the development of effective analytical methods for monitoring trace levels of various phenols which can indicate, among others compounds, the water quality. A simple, inexpensive supported liquid membrane (SLM) device was used in combination with commercially available capillary electrophoresis (CE) equipment for the direct determination of chlorophenols in surface water samples. The manifold was used simultaneously to extract and preconcentrate the analytes from liquid samples. In the extraction set-up, the donor phase (4 mL) was placed in the CE vial, where a micro-membrane extraction unit (MMEU) accommodating the acceptor phase (100 μL) in its lumen was immersed. The supported liquid membrane was constructed by impregnating a porous Fluoropore Teflon (PTFE) membrane with a water-immiscible organic solvent (dihexyl ether). The extraction process was optimized with regard to the pH of the donor and acceptor phases, membrane liquid, extraction time and voltage applied to the inlet or outlet vial during extraction. The chlorinated phenols pentachlorophenol (PCP), 2,3,6 trichlorophenol (TCP) and 2,6 dichlorophenol (DCP) were thus efficiently separated by CE, using tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane (Tris) and an NaH₂PO₄ solution containing 1% (v/v) methanol at pH 10.5 as running buffer.     

Flux enhancement of stagnant sandwich compared to supported liquid membrane systems in the removal of Gemfibrozil from waters

Removal of the drug Gemfibrozil (GEM), as a target molecule, from aqueous media by using a carrier mediated transport in supported liquid membrane (SLM) and Stagnant Sandwich LM (SSwLM) systems has been investigated. Optimal chemical conditions to use in the transport tests were determined by means of solubility and liquid–liquid extraction tests. The results showed that the best LM phase to realize stable LM systems was tributylphosphate (TBP) 30% (v/v) in n-decane. Transport tests by using the “traditional” SLM system showed an average flux J_AV(0–CTT) of 0.421 mmol h⁻¹ m⁻² and a system stability of 1410 min. Three different microfiltration membranes, GH-Polypro, FP-Vericel and Supor 200, made of polypropylene, polyvinylidene fluoride and polyethersulphone polymers, respectively, were used to assemble the SSwLM. Contact angle and adsorption measurements evidenced hydrophilic/lypophilic character of the supports. The best results in terms of average flux (0.873 mmol h⁻¹ m⁻²), permeability coefficient (21.88 L h⁻¹ m⁻²) and stability (7170 min ≈120 h) were obtained by using the SSwLM made with the Supor 200 support. The overall results showed that the SSwLM made with this type of support achieves both high flux and high stability compared to the SLM. Thus SSwLMs seems very interesting to employ transport in LM for removing molecular species (e.g. drugs) from aqueous solutions.     

Simultaneous separation of mercury and lignosulfonate from aqueous solution using supported liquid membrane

This paper presents an experimental investigation on facilitated and simultaneous transport of mercury and lignosulfonate (LS) through a flat sheet supported liquid membrane (SLM) having Nylon 6,6 as support, trioctylamine (TOA) as carrier and dichloroethane as solvent. The experiments were performed at various operating conditions such as strip phase concentration, feed pH, carrier concentration and feed concentration to find the best set of parameters that would yield the maximum separation of pure mercury as well as its mixture with LS. The experiments were performed in co-transport mode using NaOH as the strip phase. It was observed that extraction of mercury as well as its mixture increases with increase in concentration of NaOH up to a certain limit 0.1 M NaOH in case of pure solution and 0.2 M NaOH in case of mixture). Feed phase pH significantly affects the mercury separation process. However, initial feed concentration does not affect the extraction process appreciably. Separation of mixture of mercury and LS behaves in a similar way as their pure solution; however the extraction is low in comparison to pure solution. The extraction of mercury from its pure solution is about 81% in 1 h. The extraction of mercury and LS from their mixture is about 52.6% and 50.2%, respectively at optimum condition and in a period of 2 h.     

Hollow fiber supported ionic liquid membrane microextraction for determination of sulfonamides in environmental water samples by high-performance liquid chromatography

By using ionic liquid as membrane liquid and tri-n-octylphosphine oxide (TOPO) as additive, hollow fiber supported liquid phase microextraction (HF-LPME) was developed for the determination of five sulfonamides in environmental water samples by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection The extraction solvent and the parameters affecting the extraction enrichment factor such as the type and amount of carrier, pH and volume ratio of donor phase and acceptor phase, extraction time, salt-out effect and matrix effect were optimized. Under the optimal extraction conditions (organic liquid membrane phase: [C₈MIM][PF₆] with 14% TOPO (w/v); donor phase: 4 mL, pH 4.5 KH₂PO₄ with 2 M Na₂SO₄; acceptor phase: 25 μL, pH 13 NaOH; extraction time: 8 h), low detection limits (0.1–0.4 μg/L, RSD ≤ 5%) and good linear range (1–2000 ng/mL, R² ≥ 0.999) were obtained for all the analytes. The presence of humic acid (0–25 mg/L dissolved organic carbon) and bovine serum albumin (0–100 μg/mL) had no significant effect on the extraction efficiency. Good spike recoveries over the range of 82.2–103.2% were obtained when applying the proposed method on five real environmental water samples. These results indicated that this present method was very sensitive and reliable with good repeatabilities and excellent clean-up in water samples. The proposed method confirmed hollow fiber supported ionic liquid membrane based LPME to be robust to monitoring trace levels of sulfadiazine, sulfamerazine, sulfamethazine, sulfadimethoxine and sulfamethoxazole in aqueous samples.     

Impedometric monitoring of the behavior of the supported liquid membrane in electromembrane extraction systems: An insight into the origin of optimized experimental parameters

Electromembrane extraction (EME) was carried out using a novel instrumentation capable of impedometric monitoring of the system during the extraction. This instrumentation involves a classical two-electrode assembly fed by two time-resolved potential functions, the first for the extraction of analyte and the second for obtaining the impedance information. The impedometric analysis of the system was achieved by Laplace transformation of the current recorded during the extraction. It has been shown that the obtained impedance information can be converted to very useful knowledge about time dependence of double layer capacitance, kinetics of analyte depletion, total permeability of the SLM and the effect of experimental parameters on system behavior. It has also been shown that the impedance analysis is a powerful tool for the estimation of optimum experimental parameters without determination of analyte in the acceptor phase.     

High performance liquid chromatography determination of chlorophenols in water samples after preconcentration by continuous flow liquid membrane extraction on-line coupled with a precolumn

A continuous flow liquid membrane extraction (CFLME)-C₁₈ precolumn-liquid chromatography system was developed for preconcentration and determination of chlorinated phenols (CPs). After preconcentration by CFLME, which is based on the combination of continuous flow liquid-liquid extraction and supported liquid membrane, CPs were enriched in 960 μl of 0.5 mol l⁻¹ NaOH used as acceptor. This acceptor was on-line neutralized and transported onto the C₁₈ precolumn where analytes were absorbed and focused. Then the focused analytes were injected onto the C₁₈ analytical column for separation and detected at 215 nm with a diode array detector. CFLME related parameters such as flow rates, pH of donor and acceptor concentration were optimized. The proposed method presents detection limits of 0.02-0.09 μg l⁻¹ (S/N=3) when 100 ml samples were enriched. The proposed method was successfully applied to determine CPs in tap water and river water samples with spiked recoveries in the range of 70-121%.     

Facilitated transport of copper(II) across supported liquid membrane and polymeric plasticized membrane containing 3-phenyl-4-benzoylisoxazol-5-one as carrier

The potential of 3-phenyl-4-benzoylisoxazol-5-one (HPBI) as metal extractant has been evaluated for the first time for Cu(II) transport from aqueous nitrate solutions by supported liquid membrane (SLM) in the solvents chloroform, 2-nitro phenyl octyl ether (NPOE) and dodecyl nitro phenyl ether (DNPE). The efficiency of the membrane transport was optimized as a function of pH, temperature, aqueous phases and membrane composition. It follows the sequence CHCl₃ > DNPE > NPOE. The results suggested that the transport mechanism was mainly controlled by the diffusion of the Cu(PBI)₂ complex in the membrane core. A comparative investigation of Cu(II) transport ions has been made between SLM and polymeric plasticized membrane (PPM), containing HPBI with NPOE and DNPE as organic solvents or plasticizers in order to evaluate the feasibility of PPM with HPBI.     

A simple sample pretreatment device with supported liquid membrane for direct injection of untreated body fluids and in‐line coupling to a commercial CE instrument

A simple sample pretreatment device was developed employing extractions across supported liquid membranes (SLMs) and in‐line coupling to a commercial CE instrument. The device consisted of two polypropylene conical units interspaced with a polypropylene planar SLM, which were impregnated with 1‐ethyl‐2‐nitrobenzene. The two units and the SLM were pressed against each other, donor unit was filled with 40 μL of an untreated body fluid and acceptor unit with 40 μL of DI water. The device was then placed into conventional CE vial fitted with a soft spring, which was depressed during injection into CE capillary and ensured that the SLM was not ruptured. Position of separation capillary injection end and high‐voltage electrode in the CE instrument was optimized in order to ensure efficient injection of pretreated body fluids. The device can be easily assembled/disassembled and SLMs can be replaced after each extraction thus minimizing sample carry‐over, avoiding tedious SLM regeneration, and reducing total pretreatment time and costs. The pretreatment device was examined by direct injection of human urine and serum spiked with nortriptyline, haloperidol, and loperamide. The basic drugs were diffusionaly transported across the SLM within 10 min and were injected into the separation capillary directly from the SLM surface in the acceptor unit, whereas matrix components were retained by the SLM. The in‐line SLM‐CE method showed good repeatability of peak areas (3.8–11.0%) and migration times (below 1.4%), linear relationship (r² = 0.990–0.999), and low LODs (12–100 μg/L).