Determination of organophosphorous pesticides in water using in-syringe ultrasound-assisted emulsification and gas chromatography with electron-capture detection

Abstract: An in-syringe ultrasound-assisted emulsification microextraction (USAEME) was developed for the extraction of organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) from water samples. The OPPs subsequently analyzed gas chromatography (GC) using a microelectron capture detector (μECD). Ultrasound radiation was applied to accelerate the emulsification of μL-level low-density organic solvent in aqueous solutions to enhance the microextraction efficiency of OPPs in the sample preparation for GC-μECD. Parameters affecting the efficiency of USAEME, such as the extraction solvent, solvent volume, pH, salt-addition, and extraction time were thoroughly investigated. Based on experimental results, OPPs were extracted from a 5mL aqueous sample by the addition of 20μL toluene as the extraction solvent, followed by ultrasonication for 30s, and then centrifugation for 3min at 3200rpm, offered the best extraction efficiency. Detections were linear in the concentration of 0.01–1μg/L with detection limits between 1ng/L and 2ng/L for OPPs. Enrichment factors ranged from 330 to 699. Three spiked aqueous samples were analyzed, and recovery ranged from 90.1% to 104.7% for farm-field water, and 90.1% to 101.8% for industrial wastewater. The proposed method provides a simple, rapid, sensitive, inexpensive, and eco-friendly process for determining OPPs in water samples. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]