Amino-based magneto-polymeric-modified mixed iron hydroxides for magnetic solid phase extraction of phenol residues in environmental samples

Abstract

Mixed iron hydroxides (MIHs) modified with different amino-based polymeric materials, including aminopropyltriethoxysilane, polydopamine, diaminobenzoic acid, polyaniline, and polyphenylenediamine, were comparatively investigated as sorbents for the extraction of phenol compounds. Polyphenylenediamine-modified mixed iron hydroxides (MIH@PPDA) showed high adsorption capability for most target analytes. Its ferromagnetic behavior, with a magnetization of 17.38 emu g−1, was sufficient for subsequent use in magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE). The functional groups, morphology, and magnetic properties of this magnetic nanomaterial were investigated using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, vibrating sample magnetometry, X-ray diffraction, and CHN analysis. High-performance liquid chromatography with a photodiode array detector was used to quantify phenol compounds. The experimental parameters affecting the efficiency of the entire MSPE process were optimized. Good linearity in the range of 0.5–1000 µg L−1 was obtained (depended on the compound). The detection and quantitation limits varied from 0.01 to 0.3 µg L−1 and 0.03 to 0.9 µg L−1, respectively. The enrichment factors for all phenol compounds were in the range of 80–285. The precision in terms of intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations were below 5.8% and 6.2%, respectively. The developed MSPE method was applied to analyze phenol compounds in diverse samples, including soil, drinking water, and fruit. Relative recoveries of 76.7–130.1% were obtained. The MIH@PPDA magneto-polymeric sorbent exhibits good stability and is reliable for a variety of phenol compounds.