Preparation of magnetite/poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) nanoparticles for selective enrichment-determination of fenitrothion in environmental and biological samples

In the present study, a cross-linked nano-sized spherical magnetic poly(styrene-divinylbenzene) is synthesized and used as an adsorbent for enrichment-determination of fenitrothion. A miniemulsion polymerization procedure was used to prepare the adsorbent. The magnetic adsorbent was characterized by FT-IR, SEM and TEM. The prepared magnetic adsorbent nanoparticles were mixed with magnetite nanoparticles for faster and more efficient magnetic precipitation. The reduced fenitrothion was coupled with 3-methyl-2-benzothiazolinone hydrazone and then the blue colored complex was extracted. The blue derivative of fenitrothion was eluted by a 1 mL aliquot of 1-propanol prior to spectrophotometry at 571 nm. Beer's law was obeyed in the range of 2–230 ng mL⁻¹ of fenitrothion with relative standard deviation and recovery in the ranges of 0.9–5.1% and 97.2–100.0%, respectively. Selectivity of the method was evaluated, and the method was successfully applied to the determination of fenitrothion in various water, soil, urine and human plasma samples.