Coupling the extraction efficiency of imidazolium-based ionic liquid aggregates with solid-phase microextraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Application to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a certified reference sediment

J Chromatogr A. 2008 Dec 19;1214(1-2):23-9. doi: 10.1016/j.chroma.2008.10.084. Epub 2008 Oct 28.

Abstract

Three ionic liquid (IL)-based aggregates, 1-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide (HDMIm-Br), 1-hexadecyl-3-butylimidazolium bromide (HDBIm-Br), and 1,3-didodecylimidazolium bromide (DDDDIm-Br) have been applied to the development of a quantitative solid-phase microextraction (SPME)-gas chromatography (GC)-mass spectrometry (MS) method. A sensitivity factor (SF) is defined and introduced for the first time to quantitatively compare the efficiency of the IL-based aggregates by SPME-GC-MS and to evaluate the partitioning strength of several polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) to the three IL-aggregates. The ILs HDBIm-Br and HDMIm-Br have been used successfully to extract seven PAHs from the certified reference sediment BCR-535 using focused microwave-assisted extraction followed by SPME-GC-MS. Average recoveries for six of the seven certified PAHs were 84.6% for HDMIm-Br and 101% for HDBIm-Br, with relative standard deviation values (RSDs) lower than 19%. The overall extraction method requires short extraction times (around 7 min for the microwave step) and avoids the use of organic solvents.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

MeSH terms

  • Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry / methods*
  • Geologic Sediments / chemistry*
  • Imidazoles / chemistry*
  • Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / analysis
  • Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / isolation & purification*
  • Reference Standards
  • Reproducibility of Results
  • Sensitivity and Specificity
  • Solid Phase Microextraction / instrumentation
  • Solid Phase Microextraction / methods*

Substances

  • 1-hexadecyl-3-methylimidazolium bromide
  • Imidazoles
  • Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons