Ionic liquid foam floatation coupled with solid phase extraction for separation and determination of hormones by...

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Environmental Chemistry
• Materials Science

Background:

• Ionic liquids (ILs) possess unique physicochemical properties, including foaming.
• Foaming property of ILs was investigated to understand influencing factors.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel extraction method utilizing the foaming property of ILs.
• To apply the developed method for the extraction and concentration of steroid hormones in water samples.

Main Methods:

• Development of foam floatation-solid phase extraction (FF-SPE) using ILs.
• Extraction and concentration of multiple steroid hormones from water samples.
• Determination of extracted steroid hormones using high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC).

Main Results:

• The IL-based FF-SPE method achieved synchronous extraction and concentration in 10 minutes.
• Recoveries for steroid hormones ranged from 50.6% to 98.7% in different water samples.
• Precision values were generally low, ranging from 2.07% to 7.43%.

Conclusions:

• The foaming property of ILs can be effectively utilized for developing advanced separation techniques.
• IL-based FF-SPE is a promising and rapid method for analyzing steroid hormones in environmental water samples.
• The application of foam floatation technology based on ILs should be expanded to other analytical challenges.