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Magnetic nanoparticles—carbon nanotubes hybrid composites for selective solid-phase extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and determination by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography

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Abstract

A rapid and reliable method based on magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) and ultra-high performance liquid chromatography (UHPLC-FLD) analysis was developed and validated for the quantitative determination of seven polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in water samples. Hybrid composites made up of magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) were tested as adsorbent materials. The main factors influencing the extraction yields were optimized, namely the amount and type of adsorbent in the adsorption, and the solvent, the type of energy and the time in the desorption step. The selected composite was made up of Fe3O4 and multiwalled (MW)-CNTs. The desorption was carried out with sonication probe and tetrahydrofuran (THF); this solvent makes the method directly compatible with the chromatographic mobile phase and it reduces the analysis time. Under the optimized conditions, the LODs and LOQs achieved were in the range of 0.025–0.73 and 0.04–2.4 ng mL−1, respectively. The calibration curves were linear (R 2 ≥ 0.9936) over the concentration ranges from 1 to 500 ng mL−1. The recoveries of PAHs were from 76.4 ± 1.7 up to 106.5 ± 3.5%. The method was applied to synthetic and real (tap, dam, river and mineral) water samples with different characteristics to evaluate the performance under real conditions.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad (Spain) for financial support through project CTQ2016-78793-P and Junta de Comunidades de Castilla – La Mancha (Spain) through project PEIC-2014-001-P. The support given through an “INCRECYT” research contract to M. Zougagh is also acknowledged.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Environmental Sciences Institute (ICAM), Department of Analytical Chemistry and Food Technology, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Avda. Carlos III s/n, 45071, Toledo, Spain

    Ana I. Corps Ricardo, Francisco J. Guzmán Bernardo & Rosa C. Rodríguez Martín-Doimeadios

  2. Regional Institute for Applied Chemistry Research, IRICA, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Avenida Camilo José Cela, No. 10, 13003, Ciudad Real, Spain

    Mohammed Zougagh

  3. Castilla – La Mancha Science and Technology Park, 02006, Albacete, Spain

    Mohammed Zougagh

  4. Department of Analytical Chemistry and Food Technology, Faculty of Chemical Sciences and Technologies, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Avda. Camilo José Cela s/n, 13071, Ciudad Real, Spain

    Ángel Ríos

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  1. Ana I. Corps Ricardo
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  2. Francisco J. Guzmán Bernardo
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  3. Mohammed Zougagh
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  4. Rosa C. Rodríguez Martín-Doimeadios
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Correspondence to Ángel Ríos.

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Corps Ricardo, A.I., Guzmán Bernardo, F.J., Zougagh, M. et al. Magnetic nanoparticles—carbon nanotubes hybrid composites for selective solid-phase extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and determination by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography. Anal Bioanal Chem 409, 5125–5132 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0459-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0459-7

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