Development of Carbon Nanotube-Polyamide Nanocomposite-based Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction Coupled to HPLC-UV Applying Response Surface Methodology for the Analysis of Bisphenol A in Aqueous Samples

A novel nanocomposite based on reinforcing of multiwalled carbon nanotubes in polyamide (PA) was prepared by solvent exchange method as stir bar coating. The morphology and surface characteristic of PA and CNT/PA coated stir bars were investigated using scanning electron microscopy. The stir bar coated by CNT/PA nanocomposite was used as an extraction device for stir bar sorptive extraction of bisphenol A from aqueous samples followed by high performance liquid chromatography-UV detection. The effect of CNTs doping level and oxidation of CNTs on the extraction capability of the coating was investigated. Response surface methodology applying central composite design was used for modeling and optimization of important factors influencing the extraction and desorption processes including extraction time, salt and methanol content, desorption solvent, its volume and desorption time. Limit of detection and linear dynamic range of the method were 0.3 ng mL^-1 and 1-10 ng mL^-1, respectively. The method precision (RSD%) with four replicate determinations was 4.9% for distilled water at the concentration level of 10 ng mL^-1 The obtained RSD% for reproducibility of stir bars was 7.4%. The developed method was successfully applied to the bottled mineral water samples, while the relative recoveries (RR%) were obtained to be in the range of 92.0-101.9%.