| Abstract: | A three‐dimensional graphene was synthesized through a hydrothermal reaction of graphene oxide with phytic acid. The microstructure and morphology of the phytic acid induced three‐dimensional graphene were investigated by nitrogen adsorption–desorption isotherms, scanning electron microscopy, and transmission electron microscopy. With a large surface area and three‐dimensional structure, the graphene was used as the solid‐phase extraction adsorbent for the extraction of phthalate esters from bottled water and sports beverage samples before high‐performance liquid chromatographic analysis. The results indicated that the graphene was efficient for the solid‐phase extraction of phthalate esters. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) of the method for the analytes were 0.02–0.03 ng/mL for the water samples and 0.03–0.15 ng/mL for the sports beverage sample. The limits of quantitation (S/N = 9) for the analytes were 0.06–0.09 ng/mL for water samples and 0.09–0.45 ng/mL for sports beverage sample. The calibration curves for the phthalate esters by the method had a good linearity from 0.1 to 80.0 ng/mL with correlation coefficients larger than 0.9997. The recoveries of the analytes for the method fell in the range of 86.7–116.2% with the relative standard deviations between 1.5 and 6.8%. |
