New deep eutectic solvent based superparamagnetic nanofluid for determination of perfluoroalkyl substances in edible oils

Abstract

Perfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) have been identified as global pollutants and raise considerable food safety concerns. However, the development of an analytical method with satisfied pretreatment performance for PFASs with varying alkyl chain length in the fatty samples remains a challenge. We describe herein the preparation of superparamagnetic nanofluid, based on a new choline chloride/1-(o-tolyl)biguanide deep eutectic solvent (DES) system, for direct extraction of perfluoroalkyl carboxylic acids from edible oils. Target PFASs, especially the short-chain one, all possessed high recoveries (90–109% with intra-day and inter-day precision below 10%). This was achieved by adjusting the constituent ratio of DES for balancing the anion-exchange (electrostatic) interactions and hydrogen-bond interactions. Employing the prepared nanofluid in magnetic microextraction, followed by high-resolution mass spectrum analysis, resulted in a rapid (15 min for pretreatment), simple, sensitive (detection limit: 0.3–1.6 pg g−1), and efficient method for the enrichment and determination of trace PFASs. Furthermore, the introducing of N–H⋯F weak force increased the pretreatment selectivity to effectively reduce the matrix effect. At the end of the study, the proposed methodology was successfully applied to the analysis of target analytes in real samples.