Acid‐induced homogenous liquid‐phase microextraction: Application of medium‐chain carboxylic acid as extraction phase

In this research, a novel homogeneous liquid‐phase microextraction method was successfully developed based on applying octanoic acid as low‐density extraction solvent. The method was applied for extraction and determination of chlorophenols (CPs) as model compounds. Twelve milliliter of the sample solution was poured into a home‐designed glass vial. Sixty microliter of octanoic acid was solved in water sample by adjusting pH and ionic strength. By rapid addition of 75 μL of concentrated HCl (6 M), a cloudy solution was obtained. Phase separation occurred at 5000 rpm for 5 min. After that, 20 μL of the collected phase (approximately 26 μL) was injected into the HPLC‐UV instrument for analysis. The effect of some parameters such as the volume of concentrated HCl (phase separation reagent), ionic strength, extraction time, centrifugation time, and the volume of extracting phase on the extraction efficiency of the CPs were investigated and optimized. The preconcentration factors in a range of 159–218 were obtained under the optimal conditions. The linear range, detection limits (S/N = 3), and precision (n = 3) were 1– 200, 0.3–0.5 μg/L, and 4.6–5.1%, respectively. Tap water, seawater, and river water samples were successfully analyzed for the existence of CPs using the proposed method and satisfactory results were obtained.     

Sensing of Trace Amounts of Dodecyl Benzene Sulfonate by Solid Phase Spectrophotometry

A very simple, selective and sensitive spectrophotometric method for the determination of dodecyl benzene sulfonate (DBS) has been investigated. In this method, the ion pair of DBS and methylene blue was adsorbed onto plasticized poly(vinylchloride) membrane as a solid phase extraction medium. The absorbance of the blue membrane was measured at 660nm against a blank membrane using a spectrophotometer. The influence of type and amount of plasticizer, pH, concentration of methylene blue, temperature of sample solution and time of extraction on the absorbance of membrane was studied. Linear calibration was obtained over a concentration range of 0.1 to 6.5µgmL^–1 of DBS. The method was applied to the determination of DBS in different commercial detergents. The precision and accuracy of the method is comparable with the conventional standard method. This method is cost-effective, and the use of organic solvent such as chloroform is completely eliminated.     

SMFs-supported Pd nanocatalysts in selective acetylene hydrogenation:Pore structure-dependent deactivation mechanism

In the present study,CNFs,ZnO and Al2O3 were deposited on the SMFs panels to investigate the deactivation mechanism of Pd-based catalysts in selective acetylene hydrogenation reaction.The examined supports were characterized by SEM,NH3-TPD and N2adsorption-desorption isotherms to indicate their intrinsic characteristics.Furthermore,in order to understand the mechanism of deactivation,the resulted green oil was characterized using FTIR and SIM DIS.FTIR results confirmed the presence of more unsaturated constituents and then,more branched hydrocarbons formed upon the reaction over alumina-supported catalyst in comparison with the ones supported on CNFs and ZnO,which in turn,could block the pores mouths.Besides the limited hydrogen transfer,N2 adsorption-desorption isotherms results supported that the lowest pore diameters of Al2O3/SMFs close to the surface led to fast deactivation,compared with the other catalysts,especially at higher temperatures.     

Oxidative coupling of methane over （Na2WO4＋Mn or Ce）/SiO2 catalysts： In situ measurement of electrical conductivity

The effects of manganese oxide or ceria promoters on the performance of Na2WO4/SiO2 catalysts for oxidative coupling of methane (OCM) are reported. The OCM reaction was performed in a continuous-flow microreactor at 800 ℃, atmospheric pressure and under GHSV = 13200 ml gC-1at h-1. Catalysts were characterized by in situ conductivity measurement, FT-IR spectroscopy, XRD, SEM and temperature programmed reduction analysis. Manganese oxide promoted Na2WO4/SiO2 is considered as one of the active and selective ca...     

Optimization of a novel method based on solidification of floating organic droplet by high-performance liquid chromatography for evaluation of antifungal drugs in biological samples

In this study, a simple, rapid, and highly efficient liquid-phase microextraction method based on solidification of floating organic droplet was coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-photo diode array detection (HPLC-PDA) for determination of ketoconazole, clotrimazole, and miconazole as antifungal drugs. Central composite design (CCD) was used for optimization of several factors affecting the extraction efficiency. The optimized conditions were established to be 550 rpm for stirring rate, 35 min for extraction time, 57 °C for extraction temperature, 8.5 for solution pH, 10 μl for organic solvent volume, and 7% (w/v) of NaCl for ionic strength. Limit of detections (LODs) of the extraction method ranged from 0.01 to 0.1 μg L⁻¹ and the linear dynamic ranges (LDRs) ranged from 0.1 to 300 μg L⁻¹ for the three antifungal drugs. Relative standard deviations (RSDs) of the proposed method were 5-11%. Preconcentration factors in the range of 306-1350 were obtained at extraction time of 35 min. Finally, performance of the proposed method was evaluated for the extraction and determination of the drugs’ levels in microgram per liter in samples and satisfactory results were obtained.     

Application of headspace solvent microextraction to the analysis of mononitrotoluenes in waste water samples

The possibility of applying headspace solvent microextraction (HSME) for determination of mononitrotoluenes (MNTs) in waste water samples is demonstrated. A drop of n-amyl alcohol containing naphthalene as an internal standard was suspended from the tip of a microsyringe needle over the headspace of stirred sample solutions for a predescribed extraction period. The drop was then injected directly into a gas chromatograph. Optimization of experimental parameters such as the nature of extracting solvent, microdrop and sample volumes, sampling temperature, stirring rate, ionic strength of the solution, pH and extraction time on HSME efficiency were investigated. Then enrichment factor, dynamic linear range (DLR), limit of detection (LOD) and precision of the method were evaluated by water samples spiked with MNTs. Finally, the method was successfully applied to the extraction and determination of the mononitrotoluenes in waste waters of both P.C.I. Company and Research Center of Azad University.     

Homogeneous liquid-liquid extraction of trace amounts of mononitrotoluenes from waste water samples

Homogeneous liquid-liquid extraction method was studied based on a phase separation phenomenon in a ternary solvent system. According to this procedure, mononitrotoloenes were extracted by single-phase extraction in a water/methanol/chloroform, homogeneous ternary solvent system. Methanol and chloroform were used as consolute and extraction solvents, respectively. The homogeneous solution was broken by the addition of salt and a cloudy solution was formed. After centrifugation, the fine droplets of the extraction solvent were sedimented in the bottom of the conical test tube. Analysis of the extracts was carried out by gas chromatography. The optimization procedure was performed using Box-Behnken design. The variables involved were: sample and extraction solvent volumes, consolute solvent volume and phase separator reagent concentration. Optimum results were obtained under the following conditions: sample volume of 5 mL, extraction solvent volume of 55 μL, consolute solvent volume of 1 mL and phase separator reagent concentration; 5% (w/v). Under these conditions, the enrichment factors of 354, 311 and 300, dynamic linear ranges of 0.5-500, 1-500 and 1-500 μg L⁻¹, and limit of detections (LODs) of 0.09, 0.09 and 0.1 μg L⁻¹ were obtained for o-nitrotoluene, m-nitrotoluene and p-nitrotoluene, respectively. Finally, the method was successfully applied to the extraction and determination of MNTs in the waste water samples in the range of micrograms per liter with R.S.Ds. < 13.2%.     

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.     

Automated hollow‐fiber liquid‐phase microextraction followed by liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry for the determination of benzodiazepine drugs in biological samples

In this study, two‐phase hollow‐fiber liquid‐phase microextraction and three‐phase hollow‐fiber liquid‐phase microextraction based on two immiscible organic solvents were compared for extraction of oxazepam and Lorazepam. Separations were performed on a liquid chromatography with mass spectrometry instrument. Under optimal conditions, three‐phase hollow‐fiber liquid‐phase microextraction based on two immiscible organic solvents has a better extraction efficiency. In a urine sample, for three‐phase hollow fiber liquid‐phase microextraction based on two immiscible organic solvents, the calibration curves were found to be linear in the range of 0.6–200 and 0.9–200 μg L^?1 and the limits of detection were 0.2 and 0.3 μg L^?1 for oxazepam and lorazepam, respectively. For two‐phase hollow fiber liquid‐phase microextraction, the calibration curves were found to be linear in the range of 1–200 and 1.5–200 μg L^?1 and the limits of detection were 0.3 and 0.5 μg L^?1 for oxazepam and lorazepam, respectively. In a urine sample, for three‐phase hollow‐fiber‐based liquid‐phase microextraction based on two immiscible organic solvents, relative standard deviations in the range of 4.2–4.5% and preconcentration factors in the range of 70–180 were obtained for oxazepam and lorazepam, respectively. Also for the two‐phase hollow‐fiber liquid‐phase microextraction, preconcentration factors in the range of 101–257 were obtained for oxazepam and lorazepam, respectively.