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Graphene oxide/Fe3O4 as sorbent for magnetic solid-phase extraction coupled with liquid chromatography to determine 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene in water samples

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Abstract

A fast, simple, economical, and environmentally friendly magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) procedure has been developed to preconcentrate 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene (TNT) from water samples prior to determination by liquid chromatography-UV-Vis employing graphene oxide/Fe3O4 nanocomposite as sorbent. The nanocomposite synthesis was investigated, and the MSPE was optimized by a multivariate approach. The optimum MSPE conditions were 40 mg of nanocomposite, 10 min of vortex extraction, 1 mL of acetonitrile as eluent, and 6 min of desorption in an ultrasonic bath. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the method was evaluated to obtain a preconcentration factor of 153. The linearity of the method was studied from 1 to 100 μg L−1 (N = 5), obtaining a correlation coefficient of 0.994. The relative standard deviation and limit of detection were found to be 12% (n = 6, 10 μg L−1) and 0.3 μg L−1, respectively. The applicability of the method was investigated, analyzing three types of water samples (i.e., reservoir and drinking water and effluent wastewater) and recovery values ranged between 87 and 120% (50 μg L−1 spiking level), showing that the matrix had a negligible effect upon extraction. Finally, the semiquantitative Eco-Scale metrics confirmed the greenness of the developed method.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain (project no. CTQ2011-23968) for the financial support and L. Costa thanks the Capes Foundation within the Ministry of Education in Brazil (Process 12013/13-7).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Química Analítica, Nutrición y Bromatología e Instituto Universitario de Materiales, Universidad de Alicante, P.O. Box 99, 03080, Alicante, Spain

    Luciana Costa dos Reis, Lorena Vidal & Antonio Canals

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  1. Luciana Costa dos Reis
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  2. Lorena Vidal
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  3. Antonio Canals
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Correspondence to Lorena Vidal or Antonio Canals.

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Costa dos Reis, L., Vidal, L. & Canals, A. Graphene oxide/Fe3O4 as sorbent for magnetic solid-phase extraction coupled with liquid chromatography to determine 2,4,6-trinitrotoluene in water samples. Anal Bioanal Chem 409, 2665–2674 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00216-017-0211-3

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