A novel method consisting of cation-selective exhaustive injection and sweeping (CSEI-sweeping) as on-line preconcentration followed by a micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) separation has been developed for the determination of 5-nitroimidazoles (5-NDZ) in environmental waters. Moreover, dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) has been proposed for first time as sample treatment technique prior to CSEI-sweeping-MEKC. DLLME was applied to 5mL of sample. Dibromomethane (1156μL) and 2-butanol (1363μL) were employed as extractant and dispersive solvents, respectively. Salting-out effect was achieved by the addition of 16% (w/v) NaCl to the samples. After DLLME and organic solvent evaporation, the residue was redissolved in a low conductivity solvent (5mM phosphoric acid with 5% of methanol) and electrokinetically injected at 9.8kV for 632s in a bare fused-silica capillary (57.2cm, 50μm I.D.). Prior to the injection, the capillary was rinsed with 50mM phosphate buffer pH 2.5, followed by a plug of a higher conductivity buffer (100mM phosphate pH 2.5, 50mbar, 264s) and a plug of water (50mbar, 2s). Separation was carried out applying -30kV at 20°C in 44mM phosphate buffer pH 2.5, containing 8% tetrahydrofuran and 123mM sodium dodecyl sulfate. Analytical signals were monitored at 276nm. Validation was performed in river and well waters, obtaining satisfactory results in terms of linearity, precision (% RSD generally lower than 10%) and trueness (recoveries higher than 70% in almost all cases). LODs ranged from 0.61 to 2.44ng/mL. The combination of this microextraction technique with the proposed capillary electrophoresis methodology supposes a simple, sensitive and cheap alternative for 5-NDZ analyses, in accordance with the aims of green chemistry.
Keywords: 5-Nitroimidazoles; Cation selective exhaustive injection; Dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction; Micellar electrokinetic chromatography; Sweeping.
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