Vortex-Assisted Acid-Induced Cloud Point Extraction Coupled With Spectrofluorometry for the Determination of Fluoroquinolones in Environmental Water Samples

Abstract

ABSTRACT The present work describes a simple and rapid extraction approach based on vortex-assisted acid-induced anionic surfactant sodium dodecyl sulfate-mediated extraction (vortex-assisted acid-induced cloud point extraction) prior to spectrofluorometry for the determination of four fluoroquinolones, including norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, sarafloxacin, and gatifloxacin, in water samples (hospital wastewater, river water, lake water, and water from the inlet of a wastewater treatment plant). Sodium dodecyl sulfate and concentrated hydrochloric acid (12 mol/L) were used as extractants. The four fluoroquinolones were concentrated in the surfactant-rich phase after phase separation and were determined by a spectrofluorophotometer. Some parameters affecting the extraction efficiency, such as the type and amount of surfactant, the amount of acid, vortex treatment, and centrifugation, were optimized systematically. Under the optimized conditions, the proposed method showed good analytical features with linearity for all analytes in a wide range of 0.045–0.90 µg/mL and coefficients of determination no less than 0.9901. The limits of detection (S/N = 3) were 0.007, 0.010, 0.009, and 0.013 µg/mL for norfloxacin, ciprofloxacin, sarafloxacin, and gatifloxacin, respectively; good precisions expressed as the relative standard deviations were in the range of 0.9–3.7% (n = 6); and average recoveries at three spiking levels ranged from 83.0% to 96.7%. The results of the proposed method are comparable to those obtained from the high-performance liquid chromatography method (t-test, p = 0.05) and are reliable for determination of fluoroquinolones in environmental water samples.