Novel room temperature ionic liquid for phenolic compounds microextraction from environmental samples

HUANG, F; BERTÓN, PAULA; LU, CHENG-FEI; SIRAJ, NOUREEN; WARNER, ISIAH M.

New Orleans

Encuentro; 245th ACS National Meeting & Exposition; 2013

American Chemistry Society

Phenols are considered as priority pollutants due to their widespread use, high persistence in the environment and toxicity even at concentration levels in the range of ng/L. As a consequence, in order to achieve reliable results, a preconcentration step before analysis is required. Although liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) methodology is usually employed as pretreatment technique, it requires organic solvents, which are volatile, toxic, and flammable. In the current study, a novel hydrophobic room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) is proposed as an alternative solvent for the extraction and preconcentration of phenols. After a liquid-liquid microextraction based on the RTIL, phenols were separated and determined directly by capillary zone electrophoresis-UV. Batch and column extraction tests were performed to elucidate the behavior and evaluate the feasibility of the methodology. After optimization of the method, recoveries higher than 80 % were achieved. The method was applied for the determination of phenols in environmental samples.