Magnetic restricted-access carbon nanotubes for dispersive solid phase extraction of organophosphates pesticides from bovine milk samples

Abstract

Magnetic restricted-access carbon nanotubes (M-RACNTs) were synthesised and used for dispersive solid phase extraction of organophosphates (chlorpyriphos, malathion, disulfoton, pirimiphos) from commercial bovine raw milk samples. Due to their magnetic susceptibility, M-RACNTs were easily separated from the samples/solvents using a neodymium magnet, and the extracted organophosphates were analysed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. The protein exclusion capacity was about 100%. Kinetic and isotherm data (for M-RACNTs – malathion interaction) were adequately adjusted to the pseudo-second order and Sips models, respectively, and the maximum adsorption capacity was about 0.55 mg g-1. The method presented linear ranges from 5.0 to 40.0 μg L-1 for all analytes, with determination coefficients from 0.9902 to 0.9963. The intra-assay precisions (as relative standard deviation) and accuracies (as relative error) ranged from 10.47 to 19.85% and from −0.18 to −18.80%, respectively, whereas the inter-assay precisions ranged from 6.48 to 18.76% and from −0.22 to 19.49%, respectively for 5.0, 20.0 and 40.0 μg L−1 organophosphates levels. The organophosphates were not stable at 4 and 24 h (relative errors ranged from −39.30 to 72.07% and −69.64 to 75.95%, respectively). Limits of detection ranged from 0.36 to 0.95 μg L-1, and 5 μg L-1 was defined as the limit of quantification for all the analytes. The proposed method was applied in the determination of organophosphates in five commercial milk samples, and no pesticides were detected.