Ionic Liquid-Based Surfactant Extraction Coupled with Magnetic Dispersive μ-Solid Phase Extraction for the Determination of Phthalate Esters in Packaging Milk Samples by HPLC

Abstract

A highly selective sample cleanup procedure combining ionic liquid-based surfactant extraction (ILSE) and magnetic dispersive μ-solid phase extraction (MD-μ-SPE) was triumphantly developed for the synchronously extraction of four phthalate acid esters (PAEs) in packaging milk samples prior to high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with photodiode array detector (HPLC-DAD). In this ionic liquid (IL)-based surfactant method, 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([C8MIM] [PF6]) was used as extraction solvent, anionic surfactant sodium linear alkylbenzene sulfonate (LAS) was used as auxiliary extraction solvent, and then sodium chloride (NaCl) was mixed to drive phase separation. The synthesized hydrophobic diatomaceous earth-supported Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (DSMNPs) were applied as an efficient adsorbent to retrieve the analyte-containing IL and LAS. Under the optimal extraction situations, good linearity of the approach was obtained in the concentration range from 10 to 1000 ng/mL for target analytes, and the preconcentration process was rapidly accomplished in 5 min. The limits of detection (LODs) based on a signal-to-noise ratio (S/N = 3) were ranged from 1.42 to 3.57 ng/mL with the relative standard deviations (RSDs) over the range of 1.84–3.56% (n = 5). The above-mentioned method was applied to the trace analysis of four PAEs including benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), dicyclohexyl phthalate (DCHP), di-n-butyl phthalate (DBP), and di-n-octyl phthalate (DNOP) in packaging milk samples, and recoveries were between 89.8 and 99.7%.