Determination of cyclic and linear siloxanes in wastewater samples by ultrasound-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A fast, simple and environmentally friendly ultrasound-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (USA-DLLME) procedure has been developed to preconcentrate eight cyclic and linear siloxanes from wastewater samples prior to quantification by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A two-stage multivariate optimization approach has been developed employing a Plackett-Burman design for screening and selecting the significant factors involved in the USA-DLLME procedure, which was later optimized by means of a circumscribed central composite design. The optimum conditions were: extractant solvent volume, 13 µL; solvent type, chlorobenzene; sample volume, 13 mL; centrifugation speed, 2300 rpm; centrifugation time, 5 min; and sonication time, 2 min. Under the optimized experimental conditions the method gave levels of repeatability with coefficients of variation between 10 and 24% (n=7). Limits of detection were between 0.002 and 1.4 µg L(-1). Calculated calibration curves gave high levels of linearity with correlation coefficient values between 0.991 and 0.9997. Finally, the proposed method was applied for the analysis of wastewater samples. Relative recovery values ranged between 71 and 116% showing that the matrix had a negligible effect upon extraction. To our knowledge, this is the first time that combines LLME and GC-MS for the analysis of methylsiloxanes in wastewater samples.

Determination of nitroaromatic explosives in water samples by direct ultrasound-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction followed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A fast, simple, inexpensive, sensitive, efficient and environmental friendly direct ultrasound-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DUSA-DLLME) procedure has been developed to concentrate five nitroaromatic explosives from water samples prior to quantification by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). An efficient ultrasonic probe has been used to radiate directly the samples producing very fine emulsions from immiscible liquids. A D-optimal design was used for optimizing the factors and to evaluate their influential upon extraction. The optimum experimental conditions were: sample volume, 10 mL; extraction time, 60s; cycles, 0.6s(s(-1)); power of ultrasound energy, 40% (70 W); and, extractant solvent (chlorobenzene) volume, 20 µL. Under the optimized experimental conditions the method presents good level of repeatability with coefficients of variation under 6% (n=8; spiking level 10 µg L(-1)). Calculated calibration curves gave high level of linearity with correlation coefficient values between 0.9949 and 0.9992. Limits of detection were ranged between 0.03 and 0.91 µg L(-1). Finally, the proposed method was applied to the analysis of two types of water samples, reservoir and effluent wastewater. The samples were previously analysed and confirmed free of target analytes. At 5 µg L(-1) spiking level recovery values ranged between 75 and 96% for reservoir water sample showing that the matrix had a negligible effect upon extraction. However, a noticeable matrix effect (around 50% recovery) was observed for effluent wastewater sample. In order to alleviate this matrix effect, the standard addition calibration method was used for quantitative determination. This calibration method supplied recovery values ranged between 71 and 79%. The same conclusions have been obtained from an uncertainty budget evaluation study.

Determination of geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol in water and wine samples by ultrasound-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A fast, simple and environmentally friendly ultrasound-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (USADLLME) procedure has been developed to preconcentrate geosmin and 2-methylisoborneol (MIB) from water and wine samples prior to quantification by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A two-stage multivariate optimization approach was developed by means of a Plackett-Burman design for screening and selecting the significant variables involved in the USADLLME procedure, which was later optimized by means of a circumscribed central composite design. The optimum conditions were: solvent volume, 8µL; solvent type: tetrachloroethylene; sample volume, 12 mL; centrifugation speed, 2300 rpm; extraction temperature 20 °C; extraction time, 3 min; and centrifugation time, 3 min. Under the optimized experimental conditions the method gave good levels of repeatability with coefficient of variation under 11% (n=10). Limits of detection were 2 and 9 ng L⁻¹ for geosmin and MIB, respectively. Calculated calibration curves gave high levels of linearity with correlation coefficient values of 0.9988 and 0.9994 for geosmin and MIB, respectively. Finally, the proposed method was applied to the analysis of two water (reservoir and tap) samples and three wine (red, rose and white) samples. The samples were previously analyzed and confirmed free of target analytes. Recovery values ranged between 70 and 113% at two spiking levels (0.25 µg L⁻¹ and 30 ng L⁻¹) showing that the matrix had a negligible effect upon extraction. Only red wine showed a noticeable matrix effect (70-72% recovery). Similar conclusions have been obtained from an uncertainty budget evaluation study.

Determination of organochlorine pesticides in water samples by dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A rapid and simple dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) has been developed to preconcentrate eighteen organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) from water samples prior to analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The studied variables were extraction solvent type and volume, disperser solvent type and volume, aqueous sample volume and temperature. The optimum experimental conditions of the proposed DLLME method were: a mixture of 10 microL tetrachloroethylene (extraction solvent) and 1 mL acetone (disperser solvent) exposed for 30 s to 10 mL of the aqueous sample at room temperature (20 degrees C). Centrifugation of cloudy solution was carried out at 2300 rpm for 3 min to allow phases separation. Finally, 2 microL of extractant was recovered and injected into the GC-MS instrument. Under the optimum conditions, the enrichment factors ranged between 46 and 316. The calculated calibration curves gave a high-level linearity for all target analytes with correlation coefficients ranging between 0.9967 and 0.9999. The repeatability of the proposed method, expressed as relative standard deviation, varied between 5% and 15% (n=8), and the detection limits were in the range of 1-25 ng L(-1). The LOD values obtained are able to detect these OCPs in aqueous matrices as required by EPA methods 525.2 and 625. Analysis of spiked real water samples revealed that the matrix had no effect on extraction for river, surface and tap waters; however, urban wastewater sample shown a little effect for five out of eighteen analytes.

Determination of organochlorine pesticides in complex matrices by single-drop microextraction coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry.

A rapid and simple single-drop microextraction method (SDME) has been used to preconcentrate eighteen organochlorine pesticides (OCPs) from water samples with a complex matrix. Exposing two microlitre toluene drop to an aqueous sample contaminated with OCPs proved an excellent preconcentration method prior to analysis by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). A Plackett-Burman design was used for screening and a central composite design for optimizing the significant variables in order to evaluate several possibly influential and/or interacting factors. The studied variables were drop volume, aqueous sample volume, agitation speed, ionic strength and extraction time. The optimum experimental conditions of the proposed SDME method were: 2 microL toluene microdrop exposed for 37 min to 10 mL of the aqueous sample containing 0% w/v NaCl and stirred at 380 rpm. The calculated calibration curves gave high-level linearity for all target analytes with correlation coefficients ranging between 0.9991 and 0.9999. The repeatability of the proposed method, expressed as relative standard deviation, varied between 5.9 and 9.9% (n=8). The detection limits were in the range of 0.022-0.101 microg L(-1) using GC-MS with selective ion monitoring. The LOD values obtained are able to detect these OCPs in aqueous matrices as required by EPA Method 625. Analysis of spiked effluent wastewater samples revealed that the matrix had no effect on extraction for eleven of the analytes but exerted notable effect for the other analytes.