New polypyrrole-carbon nanotubes-silicon dioxide solid-phase microextraction fiber for the preconcentration and determination of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and o-xylene using gas liquid chromatography.

For the first time, a polypyrrole-carbon nanotubes-silicon dioxide composite film coated on a steel wire was prepared by an electrochemical method. Scanning electron microscopy images showed that this composite film was even and porous. The prepared fiber was used as an absorbent for the headspace solid-phase microextraction of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and o-xylene, followed by gas chromatographic analysis. This method presented an excellent performance, which was much better than that of a polypyrrole-carbon nanotube fiber. It was found that under the optimized conditions, the linear ranges were 0.01-200 ng/mL with correlation coefficients >0.9953, the detection limits were 0.005-0.020 ng/mL, the relative standard deviations were 3.9-6.4% for five successive measurements with a single fiber, and the reproducibility was 5.5-8.5% (n = 3). Finally, the developed method was successfully applied to real water samples, and the relative recoveries obtained for the spiked water samples were from 91.0 to 106.7%.

Determination of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in urine by hollow-fiber liquid membrane-protected solid-phase microextraction based on sol-gel fiber coating.

A new rapid, simple and effective cleanup procedure is demonstrated for the determination of ibuprofen, naproxen and diclofenac in urine samples by using hollow-fiber liquid membrane-protected solid-phase microextraction (HFLM-SPME) based on sol-gel technique and gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID). In this technique, a sol-gel coated fiber was protected with a length of porous polypropylene hollow fiber membrane which was filled with water-immiscible organic phase. Subsequently the whole device was immersed into urine sample for extraction. Poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) grafted onto multi-walled carbon nanotubes (PEG-g-MWCNTs) was used as extraction phase to prepare the sol-gel SPME fiber. Important parameters influencing the extraction efficiency such as desorption temperature and time, organic solvent, extraction temperature and time, pH, stirring speed and salt effect were investigated and optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the method detection limits (S/N=3) were in the range of 0.03-0.07ngmL(-1) and the limits of quantification (S/N=10) between 0.08 and 0.15ngmL(-1). Relative standard deviations for intra-day and inter-day precisions were 4.8-9.0% and 4.9-8.1%, respectively. Subsequently, the method was successfully applied to human urine fractions after administration of ibuprofen, naproxen and diclofenac.

Determination of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in water samples by solid-phase microextraction based sol-gel technique using poly(ethylene glycol) grafted multi-walled carbon nanotubes coated fiber.

In this study, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) grafted multi-walled carbon nanotubes (PEG-g-MWCNTs) were synthesized by the covalent functionalization of MWCNTs with hydroxyl-terminated PEG chains. PEG-g-MWCNTs was used as a novel stationary phase to prepare the sol-gel solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fiber in combination with gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) for the determination of ibuprofen, naproxen and diclofenac in real water samples. Some parameters which influencing the extraction efficiency were such as desorption temperature and time, extraction temperature and time, pH, salt effect and stirring speed that were investigated and optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the method detection limits (S/N=3) were in the range of 0.007-0.03 ng mL(-1) and the limits of quantification (S/N=10) between 0.05 and 0.07 ng mL(-1). The relative standard deviations (RSDs) for one fiber (repeatability) (n=5) were obtained from 5.9 up to 8.1% and between fibers or batch to batch (n=3) (reproducibility) in the range of 7.2-9.1%. The developed method was successfully applied to real water samples while the relative recovery percentages obtained for the spiked water samples at 0.2 ng mL(-1) were from 84 to 107%.

A novel solid-phase microextraction using coated fiber based sol-gel technique using poly(ethylene glycol) grafted multi-walled carbon nanotubes for determination of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene in water samples with gas chromatography-flame ionization detector.

In this study, poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) grafted onto multi-walled carbon nanotubes (PEG-g-MWCNTs) were synthesized by the covalent functionalization of MWCNTs with hydroxyl-terminated PEG chains. For the first time, functionalized product of PEG-g-MWCNTs was used as selective stationary phase to prepare the sol-gel solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fiber in combination with gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) for the determination of ultra-trace levels of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and o-xylene (BTEX) in real water samples. The PEG-g-MWCNTs were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectra and also thermo-gravimetric analysis, which verified that PEG chains were grafted onto the surface of the MWCNTs. The scanning electron micrographs of the fiber surface revealed a highly porous structure which greatly increases the surface area for PEG-g-MWCNTs sol-gel coating. This fiber demonstrated many inherent advantages, the main being the strong anchoring of the coating to the fused silica resulting from chemical bonding with the silanol groups on the fused-silica fiber surface. The new PEG-g-MWCNTs sol-gel fiber is simple to prepare, robust, with high thermal stability and long lifetime, up to 200 extractions. Important parameters influencing the extraction efficiency such as desorption temperature and time, extraction temperature, extraction time, stirring speed and salt effect were investigated and optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the method detection limits (S/N=3) were in the range of 0.6-3 pg mL(-1) and the limits of quantification (S/N=10) between 2 and 10 pg mL(-1). The relative standard deviations (RSDs) for one fiber (repeatability) (n=5) were obtained from 4.40 up to 5.75% and between fibers or batch to batch (n=3) (reproducibility) in the range of 4.31-6.55%. The developed method was successfully applied to real water samples while the relative recovery percentages obtained for the spiked water samples at 20 pg mL(-1) were from 90.21 to 101.90%.

Synthesis and application of a novel solid-phase microextraction adsorbent: hollow fiber supported carbon nanotube reinforced sol-gel for determination of phenobarbital.

A novel solid-phase microextraction technique using a hollow fiber-supported sol-gel combined with multi-walled carbon nanotubes was employed in the determination of phenobarbital in wastewater. In this new technique, a silica-based, organic-inorganic polymer containing functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) was prepared with sol-gel technology via the reaction of tetraethylorthosilicate (TEOS) with an acidic catalyst (HCl). This sol was injected into a polypropylene hollow fiber segment for in situ gelation. This device operated in direct immersion sampling mode. The experimental setup is simple and affordable, and the device is disposable, so there is no risk of cross-contamination or carry-over. Parameters affecting extraction such as pH of the aqueous solution, ageing and extraction times, aqueous sample volume, agitation speed and carbon nanotube amount were optimized. Linearity was observed over a range of 0.50-5000 ng mL(-1), with an estimation coefficient (r(2)) higher than 0.982. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.32 ng mL(-1) (n=5), and repeatability (RSD%=2.9) was from the average of three levels of analyte concentrations (1, 1000 and 4500 ng mL(-1)) with three replicates for each within a single day. Finally, a pre-concentration factor of 2100 was obtained for phenobarbital.