Highly selective and effective solid phase microextraction of benzoic acid esters using ionic liquid functionalized...

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Nanotechnology

Background:

• Benzoic acid esters are common fragrance components.
• Accurate determination of these esters is crucial for quality control in products like perfumes.
• Existing analytical methods may lack sensitivity or selectivity.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel nanocomposite coating for enhanced extraction of benzoic acid esters.
• To apply this coating in headspace-solid phase microextraction coupled with gas chromatography (HS-SPME-GC).
• To achieve sensitive and selective determination of four specific benzoic acid esters.

Main Methods:

• Electrochemical fabrication of ionic liquid functionalized multiwalled carbon nanotubes-polyaniline (MWCNT@IL/PANI) nanocomposite coating.
• Characterization of the coating using infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy, and thermo gravimetry.
• Application of the coating in HS-SPME for the extraction of methyl benzoate, ethyl benzoate, propyl benzoate, and butyl benzoate.
• Determination using gas chromatography (GC).

Main Results:

• The MWCNT@IL/PANI coating exhibited a net-like structure and high thermal stability (up to 330°C).
• The coating demonstrated high selectivity for the target benzoic acid esters.
• Optimized method achieved low detection limits (<6.1 ng/L) and wide linear ranges (0.012-50 μg/L).
• Excellent reproducibility was observed with low relative standard deviations (RSDs < 6.4% for successive measurements, 4.4-9.6% for fiber-to-fiber).

Conclusions:

• The developed MWCNT@IL/PANI nanocomposite coating is effective for HS-SPME-GC analysis.
• The method provides sensitive, selective, and reproducible determination of benzoic acid esters.
• The technique was successfully applied to the analysis of benzoic acid esters in real perfume samples.