Abstract
A fully automated vortex-assisted liquid-liquid microextraction (VALLME) system coupled to gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC/MS) was developed for the determination of phthalate esters (PAEs) in liquor samples. The whole analytical procedure, including spiking, extraction, phase separation, extractant collection, and GC/MS quantification, were automatically carried out. The use of a commercially available sample vial and a multipurpose sampler equipped with a highly efficient orbital vortex shaker facilitated the accessibility and automation of the method. Key factors, such as type and volume of the extractant, time and speed for VALLME, agitation speed and time required for phase separation, sample pH, salt effects, and matrix effects, were thoroughly investigated. Under the optimum conditions, linearity was in the range 0.05 to 120 μg L−1. Limits of detection ranged from 0.003 to 0.006 μg L−1. Enrichment factors were in the range 211 to 304. Reproducibility and recoveries were assessed by testing a series of liquor samples spiked with different concentrations of phthalate esters. This work provided an innovative way to automate the VALLME method and couple it on-line with GC/MS.
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The authors gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (ZYGX2014J092, ZYGX2013Z006) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (51408101).
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This study was funded by the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (ZYGX2014J092, ZYGX2013Z006) and National Natural Science Foundation of China (51408101).
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Geng Leng declares that he has no conflict of interest. Wen-Jin Chen declares that she has no conflict of interest. Wen-Bo Xu declares that he has no conflict of interest. Yong Wang declares that he has no conflict of interest.
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This article does not contain any studies with human participants or animals performed by any of the authors.
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Leng, G., Chen, WJ., Xu, WB. et al. Fully Automated Vortex-Assisted Liquid-Liquid Microextraction Coupled to Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry for the Determination of Trace Levels of Phthalate Esters in Liquor Samples. Food Anal. Methods 10, 3071–3078 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-017-0874-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12161-017-0874-6