Microwave-assisted extraction and high-throughput monolithic-polymer-based micro-solid-phase extraction of...

A high-throughput micro-solid-phase extraction device based on a 96-well plate was constructed and applied to the determination of pesticide residues in various apple samples. Butyl methacrylate and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate were copolymerized as a monolithic polymer and placed in the cylindrically shaped stainless-steel meshes of 96-micro-solid-phase extraction device and used as an extracting unit. Before the micro-solid-phase extraction, microwave-assisted extraction was employed to facilitate the transfer of the pesticide residues from the apple matrix to liquid media. Then, 1 mL of the aquatic samples was transferred into the 96-well plate and the 96-micro-solid-phase extraction device was applied for the extraction of the selected pesticides. Influential parameters, such as sorbent-to-sorbent reproducibility, microwave-assisted extraction time, ionic strength and micro-solid-phase extraction time, were optimized. The limits of quantitation were below 120 μg/kg, which are lower than the maximum residue limits. The developed method was successfully implemented for the extraction and determination of the selected pesticides from 20 different apple samples gathered from local markets. Phosalone was identified and quantified at the concentration level of 147 (±16.4) μg/kg in one of the samples.