Ionic liquids-based crosslinked copolymer sorbents for headspace solid-phase microextraction of polar alcohols

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Materials Science

Background:

• Polymeric ionic liquid (PIL) fibers are effective for solid-phase microextraction (SPME) of polar compounds.
• Conventional PIL fibers suffer from limited thermal stability and short operational lifetimes.
• There is a need for more robust and durable sorbent materials for SPME applications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel crosslinked polymeric ionic liquid (PIL) fiber with enhanced stability and durability.
• To investigate the extraction performance of the crosslinked PIL fiber for polar alcohols in aqueous matrices using headspace SPME (HS-SPME).
• To evaluate the applicability of the developed method for analyzing real samples, such as alcoholic beverages.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis of a crosslinked PIL sorbent via in situ polymerization on microstructured-silver coated stainless steel wire.
• Utilized 1,1'-(1,6-Hexanediyl)bis(1-vinylimidazolium) bibromide as a crosslinking agent and 1-vinyl-3-octylimidazolium bromide as a monomer.
• Employed headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) coupled with gas chromatography-flame ionization detection (GC-FID) for analysis.

Main Results:

• The crosslinked PIL fiber demonstrated significantly higher thermal stability and durability compared to non-crosslinked counterparts.
• Optimized HS-SPME conditions yielded high extraction capacity for polar alcohols.
• The method exhibited wide linear ranges (R² from 0.9947 to 0.9999) and low limits of detection (0.5–20 μg L⁻¹).
• Successful analysis of polar alcohols in four different liquor beverages was achieved.

Conclusions:

• The developed crosslinked PIL fiber offers a stable, durable, and long-lasting alternative for SPME applications.
• The HS-SPME-GC-FID method using the crosslinked PIL fiber is effective for the quantitative analysis of polar alcohols in complex matrices.
• This advancement provides a promising tool for the analysis of polar compounds in various fields, including food and beverage quality control.