A natural and renewable biosorbent phase as a low‐cost approach in disposable pipette extraction technique for the determination of emerging contaminants in lake water samples

Abstract

This study proposes an efficient analytical methodology using a biosorbent (cork) as an extraction phase in disposable pipette extraction technique for the rapid determination of the emerging contaminants methyl paraben, ethyl paraben, benzophenone, 3‐(4‐methylbenzylidene) camphor and 2‐(ethylhexyl)‐4‐(dimethylamino) benzoate in lake water samples using high‐performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection. The optimized conditions were comprised of 800 μL of sample, three cycles of 30 s each for the extraction, pH 6, addition of 30% w/v of NaCl. For the desorption step, the optimized desorption conditions were achieved with 100 μL of a mixture comprised of 50% methanol and 50% acetonitrile v/v, using one cycle of 30 s. Excellent analytical performance was achieved with limits of detection of 0.6 μg/L for methyl paraben to 1.4 μg/L for 3‐(4‐methylbenzylidene) camphor, and the limit of quantitation varied from 2 μg/L for methyl paraben to 4.3 μg/L 3‐(4‐methylbenzylidene) camphor, respectively. The correlation coefficients ranged from 0.9962 for ethyl paraben to 0.9980 for methyl paraben. The method accuracy varied from 71–132%, and the intraday precision ranged from 3 to 23% (n = 3) and interday from 9 to 23% (n = 9). The robustness was evaluated through Youden and Lenth's methods and indicated no significant variations in the results.

Returning to Nature for the Design of Sorptive Phases in Solid-Phase Microextraction

“…The results showed that a single DPX cork-based tip maintained around 80% of the extraction efficiency with good precision (relative standard deviation lower than 20%) for all analytes with up to 15 extraction/desorption cycles [32]. In addition, an efficient cleaning of the DPX device was achieved after four cycles with the desorption solvent, enabling the reutilization of the device without carryover [36].…”

“…Regarding the recent publications, raw cork-based approaches have been highlighted in microextraction methodologies whereas they exhibit some unique analytical features that allow for "green", sustainable, and efficient procedures that are relevant to the current environmental concerns [30][31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38]. Table 1 points out the analytical features of the recent applications using raw cork-based methodologies for the extraction of different analytes from various matrices.…”

“…Afterward, the resulting powder is conditioned with acetonitrile, and it is ready to be applied as sorbent phase. Raw cork powder has been successfully applied in different microextraction approaches such as bar adsorptive microextraction [30,31], disposable pipette extraction [32,35,36], thin film-solid phase microextraction [33], and rotating disk sorptive extraction [34] as a biosorbent for the reliable determination of organic micropollutants, toxic metals, UV filters, endocrine disruptors, and compounds in aqueous samples as well as pharmaceuticals and lung cancer biomarkers in human urine. Cork exhibits significant hydrophobicity and a number of aromatic rings that can undergo effective π-π interactions with the analytes and substantially enhance the preconcentration ability of the extraction procedures.…”

Application of bar adsorptive microextraction (BAµE) for the determination of pesticides and emerging contaminants in water used for rice cultivation in southern Brazil

“…New methods have been studied to overcome disadvantages, such as the use of solvents that are harmful to human health and the environment, the use of large volumes of these solvents, long times of preparation and high cost [34]. Microextraction techniques have been applied in order to improve these limitations, besides allowing the use of extraction phases of different compositions, allowing greater versatility and efficiency for the extraction of different organic and inorganic compounds [16,25].…”

“…These compounds often reach aquatic environments through the inadequate disposal of domestic sewage. In general, these compounds act in the endocrine, nervous and cardiovascular system of the human being [25,28].…”