CVD grown carbon nanofibers: an efficient DSPE sorbent for cleanup of multi-class pesticide residue in high fat and low water commodities by QuEChERS using GC-ECD.

Abstract

An inexpensive, effective, and efficient dispersive solid-phase extraction (DSPE) sorbent was developed as an alternative totraditionally used sorbents (primary secondary amine and C18) for fatty matrices using theQuEChERS method. Catalytic chemical vapor deposition grown carbon nanofibers dispersed on activated carbon fibers (Ni-ACF/CNF) having aBET specific surface area of738 (m2/g) were for thefirst time evaluated as a DSPE material for sample cleanup before gas chromatographic analysis. Based on cleanup performance and recoveries, 10mg of Ni-ACF/CNF was found optimalfor the determination of twenty-seven multi-class pesticides in high fat and low water commodities/matrices (peanut, soybean, sesame, and flaxseed). The recoveries obtained for all analytes were in the range ~ 72 to ~ 117%, with relative standard deviation values ≤ 15%. The limits of detection and quantification values were 0.7-4.2ng/g and 2.3-13.9ng/g, respectively. The matrix match calibration curve was linear in the range 20-500ng/g with a correlation coefficient of ≥ 0.993. The results reveal thatthe Ni-ACF/CNF is a competent DSPE sorbent, similar to primary secondary amines and C18sorbent materials, for pesticide determination by QuEChERS methods in high fat and low water commodities. Graphical abstract.