Nano-structured gemini-based supramolecular solvent for the microextraction of cyhalothrin and fenvalerate

A novel supramolecular solvent-based microextraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection method has been developed for the extraction and determination of two pyrethroid analytes, cyhalothrin and fenvalerate, in water and soil samples. The liquid-liquid-phase separation of surfactants has been used in analytical extraction. The surfactant-rich phase is a nano-structured liquid, recently named as a supramolecular solvent, generated from the amphiphiles. The alkyl carboxylic acid based supramolecular solvents were introduced before. Coacervates made up of gemini surfactant, consisting of two amphiphilic moieties, were first used as solvent. The effective parameters on extraction (i.e., type of organic solvent, the amount of surfactant and volume of tetrahydrofuran, sample solution pH, salt addition, ultrasonic and centrifugation time) were investigated and optimized. Under the optimum conditions, preconcentration factors of 110 and 145 were obtained for the analytes. The linearity was 0.5-200.0 μg/L with the correlation of determination of (R(2) ) ≥ 0.9984. The limit of detection of the method was (S/N = 3) 0.2 μg/L, and precisions in the range of 6.3-10.3% (RSDs, n = 5) were obtained. This method has been successfully applied to analyze real samples, and good recoveries in the range of 101.2-108.8% were obtained.