Ionic liquid coated copper wires and tubes for fiber-in-tube solid-phase microextraction

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Estrogen detection in water is crucial for environmental monitoring.
• Existing methods for estrogen analysis can be complex and time-consuming.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a novel online solid-phase microextraction (SPME) system for estrogen analysis.
• To investigate the extraction mechanism and optimize conditions for enhanced sensitivity.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a fiber-in-tube SPME device using functionalized copper wires and a copper tube.
• Integration of the SPME device with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to create an online SPME-HPLC system.
• Optimization of extraction parameters including sampling rate, sample volume, pH, and desorption time using five model estrogens.

Main Results:

• The developed online SPME-HPLC method demonstrated high enrichment factors (611-1661).
• Achieved good linearity (0.06-60 μgL⁻¹) with low detection limits (0.02-0.05 μgL⁻¹).
• Successfully applied to real water samples with high recoveries (85-114%) and good repeatability (RSD 1.9-3.0%).

Conclusions:

• The ionic liquid-functionalized fiber-in-tube SPME device provides a sensitive and efficient platform for online estrogen analysis.
• The extraction mechanism involves hydrophobic, π-π, and dipole-dipole interactions.
• This method is suitable for the trace determination of estrogens in environmental water samples.