Time-of-flight-secondary ion mass spectrometry and cyclic voltammetry studies of self-assembly of dodecanethiol on a nanoporous gold surface.

Preparation of a nanoporous gold surface by dealloying (etching) of a 585 gold plate (58.5% Au, 30% Ag, and 11.5% non-noble metals) was studied by applying acidic and thermal treatment of the gold plate. The gold plate surface was studied before and after the etching process using different analytical techniques like field emission scanning electron microscope (FE-SEM) with an energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy analyzer (EDX), cyclic voltammetry (CV), and time-of-flight-secondary ion mass spectrometry (TOF-SIMS). CV analysis of the gold surface has shown that overnight etching with warm nitric acid increases the surface area 20 times higher than before etching. FE-SEM analysis has shown that a nanoporous gold surface with pore diameter ≤100 nm was obtained. SIMS depth profile analysis and EDX analysis have shown that the nanoporous gold surface was obtained as a result of removing the silver and copper from the first layers of the plate. The nanoporous gold surface was used as a substrate for self-assembly of dodecanethiol and has shown a higher extraction efficiency than the unetched gold alloy.

Development of a new porous gold SPME fiber for selective and efficient extraction of dodecanethiol followed by GC-MS analysis.

The efficiency of a porous gold fiber used for solid-phase microextraction (PG-SPME) was investigated for the extraction of dodecanethiol out of ethanolic solution. A commercially available standard SPME (polydimethylsiloxane, carboxen, divinylbenzene-PDMS-Carb-DVB) was used as a reference to compare the extraction efficiency and selectivity of dodecanethiol with the PG-SPME fiber. The porous gold SPME fiber allowed the analysis of self-assembled monolayers on gold by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The PG-SPME fiber showed a five times higher peak area for dodecanethiol in GC-MS compared to the standard PDMS-Carb-DVB fiber.

Direct on-line continuous supercritical fluid extraction and HPLC of aqueous pyrethrins solutions.

A new method, employing supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) connected on-line with high-performance liquid chromatography, was developed for the determination of pyrethrins and piperonyl butoxide in aqueous solutions. The principle of the laboratory-made device for SFE is based on the low mutual solubility of water and supercritical (liquid) CO2. This device works in continuous mode that offers extraction of unlimited sample volumes. Different extraction temperatures and pressures were tested to find optimum extraction conditions. The addition of organic modifier and inorganic salt to the water sample to increase extraction recovery was investigated. The method was evaluated, and it was applied for the extraction of aqueous samples spiked with commercial insecticides. The working concentration range of the method was from the limit of quantification (0.1 microg L(-1)) to the solubility of the analytes in water.