Cationic gemini surfactant templated magnetic cubic mesoporous silica and its application in the magnetic dispersive solid phase extraction of endocrine-disrupting compounds from the migrants of food contact materials

Abstract

A cationic gemini surfactant templated magnetic cubic mesoporous silica Fe3O4@14-3-14-MCM-48 nanocomposite was successfully synthesized and utilized in the magnetic dispersive solid phase extraction (MDSPE) of nine endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) from the migrants of food contact materials by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC–DAD). Fe3O4@14-3-14-MCM-48 can interact with EDCs through electrostatic interactions, hydrophobic effect, and hydrogen bonding effect. It showed excellent adsorption performance for EDCs with short alkyl chain phenols, which showed higher hydrophilicity and less retained by normal mesoporous silica with single chain surfactant as template. The parameters affecting MDSPE efficiency were optimized, and the optimum extraction conditions were adsorbent amount, 20 mg; elution solvent, methanol/acetonitrile mixture at 50/50 (v/v); NaCl concentration, 30 g/L; sample pH 5.0. Under the optimized condition, the limits of detection and limits of quantification were in the range of 1.0–2.5 and 2.9–7.5 ng/mL, respectively. Good linearity was observed in the range of 10–200.0 ng/mL with correlation coefficients of >0.997 and the recoveries were in the range of 92.6–102.3%. The developed method was successfully applied to the detection of phenolic EDCs migrants from food contact materials.