Huahua Bai

Trace determination of organophosphorus pesticides in environmental samples by temperature-controlled ionic liquid dispersive liquid-phase microextraction

This paper described a new approach for the determination of organophosphorus pesticides by temperature-controlled ionic liquid dispersive liquid-phase microextraction prior to high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection. Methylparathion and phoxim, two of the typical organophosphorus pesticides, were used as the model analytes for the investigation of the development and application of the new microextraction method. 1-Hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate [C6MIM][PF6] was used as the extraction solvent and the factors affecting the extraction efficiency such as the volume of [C6MIM][PF6], pH of working solutions, extraction time, centrifuging time, dissoluble temperature and salt effect were optimized. Under the optimal extraction conditions, methylparathion and phoxim exhibited good linear relationship in the concentration range of 1-100 ng mL(-1). The detection limits were 0.17 ng mL(-1) and 0.29 ng mL(-1), respectively. Precisions of proposed method (RSDs, n=6) were 2.5% and 2.7%, respectively. This proposed method was successfully applied in the analysis of four real environmental water samples and good spiked recoveries over the range of 88.2-103.6% were obtained. These results indicated that temperature-controlled ionic liquid dispersive liquid-phase microextraction had excellent application prospect in environmental field.

Temperature-controlled ionic liquid-liquid-phase microextraction for the pre-concentration of lead from environmental samples prior to flame atomic absorption spectrometry.

Hydrophobic ionic liquid could be dispersed into infinite droplets under driving of high temperature, and then they can aggregate as big droplets at low temperature. Based on this phenomenon a new liquid-phase microextraction for the pre-concentration of lead was developed. In this experiment, lead was transferred into its complex using dithizone as chelating agent, and then entered into the infinite ionic liquid drops at high temperature. After cooled with ice-water bath and centrifuged, lead complex was enriched in the ionic liquid droplets. Important parameters affected the extraction efficiency had been investigated including the pH of working solution, amount of chelating agent, volume of ionic liquid, extraction time, centrifugation time, and temperature, etc. The results showed that the usually coexisting ions containing in water samples had no obvious negative effect on the recovery of lead. The experimental results indicated that the proposed method had a good linearity (R=0.9951) from 10 ng mL(-1) to 200 ng mL(-1). The precision was 4.4% (RSD, n=6) and the detection limit was 9.5 ng mL(-1). This novel method was validated by determination of lead in four real environmental samples for the applicability and the results showed that the proposed method was excellent for the future use and the recoveries were in the range of 94.8-104.1%.

Application of multiwalled carbon nanotubes treated by potassium permanganate for determination of trace cadmium prior to flame atomic absorption spectrometry

In this study we investigated the enrichment ability of oxidized multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) and established a new method for the determination of trace cadmium in environment with flame atomic absorption spectrometry. The MWCNTs were oxidized by potassium permanganate under appropriate conditions before use as preconcentration packing. Parameters influencing the recoveries of target analytes were optimized. Under optimal conditions, the target analyte exhibited a good linearity (R2=0.9992) over the concentration range 0.5-50 ng/ml. The detection limit and precision of the proposed method were 0.15 ng/ml and 2.06%, respectively. The proposed method was applied to the determination of cadmium in real-world environmental samples and the recoveries were in the range of 91.3%-108.0%. All these experimental results indicated that this new procedure could be applied to the determination of trace cadmium in environmental waters.

Preconcentration sensitive determination of pyrethroid insecticides in environmental water samples with solid phase extraction with SiO2 microspheres cartridge prior to high performance liquid chromatography

Present study developed a new method for the sensitive determination of pyrethroid insecticides with solid phase extraction in combination with high performance liquid chromatography and UV detector. SiO(2) microspheres, a new SiO(2) based material, was investigated for the enrichment ability and applicability as the solid phase extraction sorbent. Four pyrethroid pesticides such as fenpropathrin, cyhalothrin, fenvalevate and biphenthrin were used as the target analytes. Parameters that maybe influence the extraction efficiency such as the eluent type and its volume, sample flow rate, sample pH, and the sample volume were optimized in detail, and the optimal conditions were as followed: sample volume, 100mL; concentration of methanol, 30%; acetone volume, 5mL; sample flow rate, 4.2mLmin(-1); sample pH, 7. The experimental results indicated that there was good linearity in the concentration range of 0.1-50microgL(-1) except biphenthrin in the range of 0.05-25microgL(-1). The detection limits for fenpropathrin, cyhalothrin, fenvalevate and biphenthrin were in the range of 0.02-0.08microgL(-1). The intra-day and day to day precisions (RSDs, n=6) were in the ranges of 2.6-4.4% and 5.3-7.2%, respectively. The method was validated with five real environmental water samples, and all these results proved that proposed method could be used as a good alternative for the routine analysis for such pollutants in environmental samples.

Dispersive liquid phase micro-extraction of aromatic amines in environmental water samples

A new, rapid and sensitive method for the determination of aromatic amines such as o-nitroaniline (NIT), alpha-naphtylamine (NAP), o-chloroaniline (CHL) in environmental water samples was developed with dispersive liquid phase micro-extraction coupled with high performance liquid chromatography. Preliminary experiments indicated that excellent achievements were obtained when chlorobenzene and acetonitrile were employed as the extraction solvent and dispersive solvent, respectively. Some other parameters that would have important effect on the pre-concentration of aromatic amines were investigated in detail. Under the optimal conditions, the method had excellent linear relationship between the peak area and the concentration for NIT, NAP and CHL in the concentration range of 1 ∼ 50 µg L−1. The limits of detection and precisions of the proposed method were in the range of 0.1 ∼ 0.7 µg L−1 and 6.3 ∼ 9.7%, respectively. The proposed method has been validated with two real water samples, and the results showed that excellent spiked recoveries in the range of 92.8% ∼ 111.5% were achieved. All these demonstrated that the proposed method would be very useful and applicable for the determination of such pollutants in the future.

Rapid determination of phenolic compounds in water samples by alternating-current oscillopolarographic titration

A rapid, simple and sensitive method was demonstrated for the determination of phenolic compounds in water samples by alternating-current oscillopolarographic titration. With the presence of sulfuric acid, phenol could be transferred into a nitroso-compound by reacting with NaNO2. The titration end-point was obtained by the formation of a sharp cut in the oscillopolarographic with infinitesimal NaNO2 on double platinum electrodes. The results showed that phenol concentration had an excellent linear relationship over the range of 4.82 x 10(-6)-9.65 x 10(-3) mol/L, the RSD of the proposed method was lower than 1.5%, and the spiked recoveries of three real water samples were in the range of 95.6%-106.9%.