On-line lab-in-syringe cloud point extraction for the spectrophotometric determination of antimony

Ultrasound assisted dispersive solid phase microextraction using polystyrene-polyoleic acid graft copolymer for determination of Sb(III) in various bottled beverages by HGAAS

A new polyoleic acid-polystyrene (PoleS) block/graft copolymer was synthesized and applied as adsorbent for ultrasound assisted dispersive solid phase microextraction (UA-DSPME) of Sb(III) in different bottled beverages and analysis using hydride generation atomic absorption spectrometry (HGAAS). Adsorption capacity of the PoleS was 150 mg g^-1. Several sample preparation parameters such as sorbent amount, solvent type, pH, sample volume and shaking time were optimized (based on central composite design (CCD) approach) and evaluated in respect to the recovery of Sb(III). The method revealed a high tolerance limit of matrix ions presence. Under optimized conditions, linearity range, the limit of detection, the limit of quantitation, extraction recovery, enhancement factor, preconcentration factor were 5-800 ng L^-1, 1.5 ng L^-1, 5.0 ng L^-1, 96%, 82, 90, respectively. Accuracy of the UA-DSPME method was confirmed based on different certified reference materials and standard addition method. Factorial design was utilized to estimate the influences of variables of recovery of Sb(III).

Dual Lab-in-Syringe Flow-Batch Platform for Automatic Fabric Disk Sorptive Extraction/Back-extraction as a Front End to Inductively Coupled Plasma Atomic Emission Spectrometry

A novel dual lab-in-syringe flow-batch (D-LIS-FB) platform for automatic fabric-disk-in-syringe sorptive extraction followed by oxidative back-extraction as a front end to inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES) is presented for the first time. Sol-gel poly(caprolactone)-poly(dimethylsiloxane)-poly(caprolactone)-coated polyester fabric disks were packed at the top of the glass barrel of a microsyringe pump as an alternative to column preconcentration. Herein lie multiple significant advantages including effectiveness, compactness, lower back-pressure, and lower time of analysis. Copper, lead, and cadmium were used as model analytes for the exploration of the capabilities of the developed platform. The online retained metal-diethyldithiophosphate complexes were eluted using diisopropyl ketone prior to atomization. Undesirable incompatibility of organic solvents for direct injection into the ICP-AES system was overcome ingeniously in a flow manner by oxidative back-extraction of the analytes utilizing a second lab-in-syringe setup. Following its optimization, the D-LIS-FB platform showed excellent linearity, in combination with good method precision (i.e., RSD < 3.4%) and trueness. Moreover, the limits of detection were 0.25 μg L^-1 for Cd(II), 0.13 μg L^-1 for Cu(II), and 0.37 μg L^-1 for Pb(II), confirming the applicability of the proposed system for metal analysis at trace levels. As a proof-of-concept, the developed versatile system was utilized for the analysis of different environmental, food, and biological samples.

Magnetic Ion Imprinted Polymers (MIIPs) for Selective Extraction and Preconcentration of Sb(III) from Environmental Matrices

Antimony(III) is a rare element whose chemical and toxicological properties bear a resemblance to those of arsenic. As a result, the presence of Sb(III) in water might have adverse effects on human health and aquatic life. However, Sb(III) exists at very ultra-trace levels which may be difficult for direct quantification. Therefore, there is a need to develop efficient and reliable selective extraction and preconcentration of Sb(III) in water systems. Herein, a selective extraction and preconcentration of trace Sb(III) from environmental samples was achieved using ultrasound assisted magnetic solid-phase extraction (UA-MSPE) based on magnetic Sb(III) ion imprinted polymer-Fe3O4@SiO2@CNFs nanocomposite as an adsorbent. The amount of antimony in samples was determined using inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). The UA-MSPE conditions were investigated using fractional factorial design and response surface methodology based on central composite design. The Sb(III)-IIP sorbent displayed excellent selectivity towards Sb(III) as compared to NIIP adsorbent. Under optimised conditions, the enrichment factor, limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) of UA-MSPE/ICP-OES for Sb(III) were 71.3, 0.13 µg L-1 and 0.44 µg L-1, respectively. The intra-day and inter-day precision expressed as relative standard deviations (%RSDs, n = 10 and n = 5) were 2.4 and 4.7, respectively. The proposed analytical method was applied in the determination of trace Sb(III) in environmental samples. Furthermore, the accuracy of the method was evaluated using spiked recovery experiments and the percentage recoveries ranged from 95-98.3%.

Liquid phase microextraction techniques combined with chromatography analysis: a review

Sample pretreatment is the first and the most important step of an analytical procedure. In routine analysis, liquid–liquid microextraction (LLE) is the most widely used sample pre-treatment technique, whose goal is to isolate the target analytes, provide enrichment, with cleanup to lower the chemical noise, and enhance the signal. The use of extensive volumes of hazardous organic solvents and production of large amounts of waste make LLE procedures unsuitable for modern, highly automated laboratories, expensive, and environmentally unfriendly. In the past two decades, liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) was introduced to overcome these drawbacks. Thanks to the need of only a few microliters of extraction solvent, LPME techniques have been widely adopted by the scientific community. The aim of this review is to report on the state-of-the-art LPME techniques used in gas and liquid chromatography. Attention was paid to the classification of the LPME operating modes, to the historical contextualization of LPME applications, and to the advantages of microextraction in methods respecting the value of green analytical chemistry. Technical aspects such as description of methodology selected in method development for routine use, specific variants of LPME developed for complex matrices, derivatization, and enrichment techniques are also discussed.

The Automation Technique Lab-In-Syringe: A Practical Guide

About eight years ago, a new automation approach and flow technique called "Lab-In-Syringe" was proposed. It was derived from previous flow techniques, all based on handling reagent and sample solutions in a flow manifold. To date Lab-In-Syringe has evidently gained the interest of researchers in many countries, with new modifications, operation modes, and technical improvements still popping up. It has proven to be a versatile tool for the automation of sample preparation, particularly, liquid-phase microextraction approaches. This article aims to assist newcomers to this technique in system planning and setup by overviewing the different options for configurations, limitations, and feasible operations. This includes syringe orientation, in-syringe stirring modes, in-syringe detection, additional inlets, and addable features. The authors give also a chronological overview of technical milestones and a critical explanation on the potentials and shortcomings of this technique, calculations of characteristics, and tips and tricks on method development. Moreover, a comprehensive overview of the different operation modes of Lab-In-Syringe automated sample pretreatment is given focusing on the technical aspects and challenges of the related operations. We further deal with possibilities on how to fabricate required or useful system components, in particular by 3D printing technology, with over 20 different elements exemplarily shown. Finally, a short discussion on shortcomings and required improvements is given.

Direct-immersion single-drop microextraction and in-drop stirring microextraction for the determination of nanomolar concentrations of lead using automated Lab-In-Syringe technique

Two operational modes for Lab-In-Syringe automation of direct-immersion single-drop microextraction have been developed and critically compared using lead in drinking water as the model analyte. Dithizone was used in the presence of masking additives as a sensitive chromogenic complexing reagent. The analytical procedure was carried out inside the void of an automatic syringe pump. Normal pump orientation was used to study extraction in a floating drop of a toluene-hexanol mixture. Placing the syringe upside-down allowed the use of a denser-than-water drop of chloroform for the extraction. A magnetic stirring bar was placed inside the syringe for homogenous mixing of the aqueous phase and enabled in-drop stirring in the second configuration while resulting in enhanced extraction efficiency. The use of a syringe as the extraction chamber allowed drop confinement and support by gravitational differences in the syringe inlet. Keeping the stirring rates low, problems related to solvent dispersion such as droplet collection were avoided. With a drop volume of 60 µL, limits of detection of 75 nmol L^-1 and 23 nmol L^-1 were achieved for the floating drop extraction and the in-drop stirring approaches, respectively. Both methods were characterized by repeatability with RSD typically below 5%, quantitative analyte recoveries, and analyte selectivity achieved by interference masking. Operational differences were critically compared. The proposed methods permitted the routine determination of lead in drinking water to be achieved in less than 6 min.

A flow-based procedure exploiting the lab-in-syringe approach for the determination of ester content in biodiesel and diesel/biodiesel blends

The ester content is an important parameter to be monitored in biodiesel for evaluation of the transesterification reaction yield and for assessing the purity of the final product. This is also a relevant quality parameter in diesel/biodiesel blends to avoid frauds, because legislation establishes a minimum amount of biodiesel to be added to diesel. The official method EN14103 requires the addition of an alternative internal standard (methyl nonadecanoate) for analysis of biodiesel from bovine tallow because the methyl heptadecanoate is found in high amounts in this product. In this work, it is proposed a fast, simple, practical, and environmental friendly flow-based spectrophotometric procedure, which exploits the formation of the violet complex between Fe(III) and the hydroxamate generated by the reactions of the alkyl esters with hydroxylamine. All involved steps are carried out inside the syringe pump of a sequential injection analyzer (lab-in-syringe approach). A single phase is attained by using ethanol as mediator solvent between the organic sample and aqueous soluble reagents. Linear responses for biodiesel samples and diesel/biodiesel blends were obtained from 4-99%(v/v) to 2.0-40%(v/v) methyl esters, described by the equations: A = 0.342 + 0.00305C (r = 0.997) and A = 0.174 + 0.00503C (r = 0.999), respectively. The analytical curve can be obtained by in-line dilution of a methyl linoleate stock solution. For biodiesel samples, the coefficient of variation (n = 10), limit of detection (99.7% confidence level), and sampling rate were estimated at 0.8%, 0.36%(v/v), and 15h^-1, respectively, whereas the corresponding values for the blend samples were 0.20%, 0.03%(v/v), and 12h^-1, respectively. The procedure consumes only 860μg of hydroxylamine, 366μg of Fe₂(SO₄)₃·H₂O, and 2.0mL ethanol and generates ca. 3.0mL of residue per determination. The results agreed with those obtained by official methods EN14103/2011 e EN14078, at the 95% confidence level.

Flow method based on cloud point extraction for fluorometric determination of epinephrine in human urine

A novel stepwise injection fluorometric method for the determination of epinephrine in human urine has been developed. In the current study, the stepwise injection analysis (SWIA) was successfully combined with on-line in-syringe cloud point extraction (CPE) and fluorometric detection. The procedure was based on the epinephrine derivatization in the presence of o-phenylenediamine followed by the preconcentration stage based on the CPE with the nonionic surfactant Triton X-114. After the phase separation into a syringe of the flow system, the micellar phase containing the epinephrine derivative was transported to a fluorometric detector. The excitation and emission wavelengths were set at 447 nm and 550 nm, respectively. The conditions of epinephrine derivatization and CPE have been studied. The calibration plot constructed using the developed procedure was linear in the range of 1·10(-11)-5·10(-7) mol L(-1). The limit of detection, calculated as 3 σ of a blank test (n = 10), was found to be 3·10(-12) mol L(-1). The proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of epinephrine in human urine samples.