Development of self-dispersion ferrofluid-based dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction for determining chiral fungicide hexaconazole in water, tea, and juice using high-performance liquid chromatography

Abstract

In this study, a fast, green, and efficient ferrofluid-based dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME) method was developed for determining chiral fungicide hexaconazole residues using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The ferrofluid as extraction solvent was composed of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) and Fe3O4, in which DES as the functional support solvent of the ferrofluid was synthesized by fenchol, hexanoic acid, and acetic acid in the molar ratio of 1:0.5:3. The prepared ferrofluid is characterized by self-dispersion and magnetism, which can eliminate the vortex, ultrasound, and centrifugation steps. Chiral separation and detection of hexaconazole enantiomers were performed by HPLC. Under optimal conditions, linearity ranged between 0.02 and 2 μg mL−1, the limit of detection (LOD) was 0.006 μg mL−1, and relative standard deviations were less than 8.6 %. The recoveries in the water, tea, and juice ranged from 83.0 % to 101.7 %. The proposed self-dispersion ferrofluids can facilitate the development of fast microextraction methods for pesticides in food samples.