Solid-phase microextraction of phthalate esters in water sample using different activated carbon-polymer monoliths as adsorbents

Stephen Lirio; Chung-Wei Fu; Jhih-Yun Lin; Meng-Ju Hsu; Hsi-Ya Huang

doi:10.1016/j.aca.2016.05.006

Solid-phase microextraction of phthalate esters in water sample using different activated carbon-polymer monoliths as adsorbents

Anal Chim Acta. 2016 Jul 13:927:55-63. doi: 10.1016/j.aca.2016.05.006. Epub 2016 May 10.

Authors

Stephen Lirio¹, Chung-Wei Fu¹, Jhih-Yun Lin¹, Meng-Ju Hsu¹, Hsi-Ya Huang²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Chung Yuan Christian University, 200 Chung Pei Road, Chung Li District, Taoyuan City, 320, Taiwan.
² Department of Chemistry, Chung Yuan Christian University, 200 Chung Pei Road, Chung Li District, Taoyuan City, 320, Taiwan. Electronic address: hyhuang@cycu.edu.tw.

PMID: 27237837
DOI: 10.1016/j.aca.2016.05.006

Abstract

In this study, the application of different activated carbon-polymer (AC-polymer) monoliths as adsorbents for the solid-phase microextraction (SPME) of phthalate esters (PAEs) in water sample were investigated. The activated carbon (AC) was embedded in organic polymers, poly(butyl methacrylate-co-ethylene dimethacrylate) (poly(BMA-EDMA)) or poly(styrene-co-divinylbenzene) (poly(STY-DVB)), via a 5-min microwave-assisted or a 15-min water bath heating polymerization. Preliminary investigation on the performance of the native poly(BMA-EDMA) and poly(STY-DVB) demonstrated remarkable adsorption efficiencies for PAEs. However, due to the strong hydrophobic, π-π, and hydrogen bonding interactions between the analytes and polymers, low extraction recoveries were achieved. In contrast, the presence of AC in native polymers not only enhanced the adsorption efficiencies but also assisted the PAE desorption, especially for AC-poly(STY-DVB) with extraction recovery ranged of 76.2-99.3%. Under the optimized conditions, the extraction recoveries for intra-, inter-day and column-to-column were in the range of 76.5-100.8% (<3.7% RSDs), 77.2-97.6% (<5.6% RSDs) and 75.5-99.7% (<6.2% RSDs), respectively. The developed AC-poly(STY-DVB) monolithic column showed good mechanical stability, which can be reused for more than 30 extraction times without any significant loss in the extraction recoveries of PAEs. The AC-poly(STY-DVB) monolithic column was successfully applied in SPME of PAEs in water sample with extraction recovery ranged of 78.8%-104.6% (<5.5% RSDs).

Keywords: Activated carbon; Phthalate ester; Poly(styrene-divinylbenzene); Polymer monolith; Solid-phase microextraction.