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Extraction and determination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in water and urine samples using solidified floating organic drop microextraction along with high performance liquid chromatography

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Abstract

We have developed a method, termed solidification of floating organic drop microextraction (SFOME), for the extraction of polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) in water and urine samples, this followed by quantification via HPLC. This method requires very small quantities of organic solvent consumption. It is based on exposing a floating solidified drop of an organic solvent on the surface of aqueous solution in a sealed vial. The organic drop is easily collected with a spatula, molten (at ambient temperature), and then submitted to HPLC. Experimental parameters including extraction solvent and its volume, disperser solvent and its volume, extraction time, ionic strength, stirring speed and extraction temperature were optimized. The enrichment factors of analytes are in the range from 921 to 1,462, and acceptable extraction recoveries (92%–118%) are obtained. The dynamic linear range for five PBDE congeners is in the range of 0.5–75 μg.L−1 and from 5 to 500 μg.L−1 for BDE 209. The correlation coefficients range from 0.9960 to 0.9999. The limits of detection (at S/N = 3) for PBDE congeners vary between 0.01 and 0.04 μg.L−1. This method has been successfully applied to detecting PBDEs in two environmental waters and in human urine.

Under optimized conditions, the enrichment factors of PBDEs by solidification of floating organic drop microextraction were from 921 to 1,462, and extraction recoveries (92%–118%) were obtained. The correlation coefficients ranged from 0.9960 to 0.9999. The limits of detection (at S/N = 3) for PBDE congeners varied between 0.01 and 0.04 μg.L−1.

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Acknowledgements

This work was jointly funded by “Xinmiao Talent” Project of Zhejiang Province (2010R413061), Public Benefit Project of Zhejiang Province (2011C23112, 2011C37006), National Natural Science Foundation of China (21077079), Key Project of Wenzhou City (20082780125, Z090921421), and International Cooperation Project of Wenzhou Science and Technology Bureau (H20090079, H20100053, H20100054).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Environmental Science and Public Health, Wenzhou Medical College, University-Town, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China, 325035

    Huanqiang Liu, Minghua Zhang, Xuedong Wang, Yujie Zou, Wenwei Wang, Meiping Ma & Yanyan Li

  2. College of Life Science, Wenzhou Medical College, University-Town, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China, 325035

    Huili Wang

  3. Department of Environmental Sciences, Wenzhou Medical College, University-Town, Wenzhou, Zhejiang, China, 325035

    Xuedong Wang

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  1. Huanqiang Liu
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  2. Minghua Zhang
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  4. Yujie Zou
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  8. Huili Wang
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Correspondence to Xuedong Wang or Huili Wang.

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Liu, H., Zhang, M., Wang, X. et al. Extraction and determination of polybrominated diphenyl ethers in water and urine samples using solidified floating organic drop microextraction along with high performance liquid chromatography. Microchim Acta 176, 303–309 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-011-0713-1

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