N-doped carbon nanotubes-reinforced hollow fiber solid-phase microextraction coupled with high performance liquid chromatography for the determination of phytohormones in tomatoes

Abstract

A N-doped carbon nanotubes-reinforced hollow fiber solid-phase microextraction (N-doped CNTs-HF-SPME) method was developed for determination of two naphthalene-derived phytohormones, 1-naphthalene acetic acid (NAA) and 2-naphthoxyacetic acid (2-NOA), at trace levels in tomatoes. N-doped CNTs were dispersed in ultrapure water with the assistance of surfactant, and then immobilized into the pores of hollow fiber by capillary forces and sonification. The resultant N-doped CNTs-HF was wetted with 1-octanol, subsequently immersed into the tomato samples to extract the target analytes under a magnetic stirring, and then desorbed with methanol by sonication prior to chromatographic analysis. Compared with CNTs, the surface hydrophilicity of N-doped CNTs was improved owing to the doping of nitrogen atoms, and a uniform dispersion was formed, thus greatly simplifying the preparation process and reducing waste of materials. In addition, N-doped CNTs-HF exhibits a more effective extraction performance for NAA and 2-NOA on account of the introduction of Lewis-basic nitrogen. It is worth to mention that owing to the clean-up function of HF, there are not any complicated sample pretreatment procedures prior to the microextraction. To achieve the highest extraction efficiency, important microextraction parameters including the length and the concentration level of N-doped CNTs in surfactant solution, extraction time, desorption conditions such as the type and volume of solvents, pH value, stirring rate and volume of the donor phase were thoroughly investigated and optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the method showed 165- and 123-fold enrichment factors of NAA and 2-NOA, good inter-fiber repeatability and batch-to-batch reproducibility, good linearity with correlation coefficients higher than 0.9990, low limits of detection and quantification (at ng g−1 levels), and satisfactory recoveries in the range of 83.10–108.32% at three spiked levels. The proposed method taking advantages of both excellent adsorption performance of N-doped CNTs and the clean-up function of HF, was a simple, green, efficient and cost-effective enrichment procedure for the determination of trace NAA and 2-NOA in tomatoes.