Nanocomposite microbeads made of recycled polylactic acid for the magnetic solid phase extraction of xenobiotics from human urine

Lorenzo Antonelli; Maria Chiara Frondaroli; Massimo Giuseppe De Cesaris; Nina Felli; Chiara Dal Bosco; Elena Lucci; Alessandra Gentili

doi:10.1007/s00604-024-06335-y

Nanocomposite microbeads made of recycled polylactic acid for the magnetic solid phase extraction of xenobiotics from human urine

Mikrochim Acta. 2024 Apr 9;191(5):251. doi: 10.1007/s00604-024-06335-y.

Authors

Lorenzo Antonelli¹, Maria Chiara Frondaroli¹, Massimo Giuseppe De Cesaris¹, Nina Felli¹, Chiara Dal Bosco¹, Elena Lucci¹, Alessandra Gentili²

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University, P.Le Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy.
² Department of Chemistry, Sapienza University, P.Le Aldo Moro 5, 00185, Rome, Italy. alessandra.gentili@uniroma1.it.

Abstract

Nanocomposite microbeads (average diameter = 10-100 µm) were prepared by a microemulsion-solidification method and applied to the magnetic solid-phase extraction (m-SPE) of fourteen analytes, among pesticides, drugs, and hormones, from human urine samples. The microbeads, perfectly spherical in shape to maximize the surface contact with the analytes, were composed of magnetic nanoparticles dispersed in a polylactic acid (PLA) solid bulk, decorated with multi-walled carbon nanotubes (mPLA@MWCNTs). In particular, PLA was recovered from filters of smoked electronic cigarettes after an adequate cleaning protocol. A complete morphological characterization of the microbeads was performed via Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy, UV-Vis spectroscopy, thermogravimetric and differential scanning calorimetry analysis (TGA and DSC), scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD). The recovery study of the m-SPE procedure showed yields ≥ 64%, with the exception of 4-chloro-2-methylphenol (57%) at the lowest spike level (3 µg L^-1). The method was validated according to the main FDA guidelines for the validation of bioanalytical methods. Using liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, precision and accuracy were below 11% and 15%, respectively, and detection limits of 0.1-1.8 µg L^-1. Linearity was studied in the range of interest 1-15 µg L^-1 with determination coefficients greater than 0.99. In light of the obtained results, the nanocomposite microbeads have proved to be a valid and sustainable alternative to traditional sorbents, offering good analytical standards and being synthetized from recycled plastic material. One of the main objectives of the current work is to provide an innovative and optimized procedure for the recycling of a plastic waste, to obtain a regular and reliable microstructure, whose application is here presented in the field of analytical chemistry. The simplicity and greenness of the method endows the procedure with a versatile applicability in different research and industrial fields.

Keywords: Carbon nanomaterials; Green analytical chemistry; Microbeads; Polylactic acid; Recycled plastic; Solid phase extraction.

Publication types

Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

Electronic Nicotine Delivery Systems*
Humans
Magnetic Phenomena
Microspheres
Nanocomposites* / chemistry
Nanotubes, Carbon* / chemistry
Polyesters
Solid Phase Extraction / methods
Xenobiotics

Substances

poly(lactide)
Nanotubes, Carbon
Xenobiotics
Polyesters