A hyper-cross linked polymer as an adsorbent for the extraction of chlorophenols

A porous material (polytriphenylamine; PTPA) was synthesized by using triphenylamine as the monomer and dimethoxymethane as the cross-linker. PTPA was characterized by Fourier infrared spectrometry, X-ray diffraction measurements, scanning electron microscopy and N₂ adsorption-desorption isotherms. The PTPA has a spherical-shape morphology and relatively high specific surface area. It is shown to be a viable adsorbent for solid phase extraction of 3-chlorophenol, 2,3-dichlorophenol, 2,4-dichlorophenol and 2,4.6-trichlorophenol prior to their determination by high performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. Under the optimized conditions, recoveries from spiked samples are in the range from 92.5% to 106.3%. The limits of detection range from 0.03 to 0.3 ng mL^-1 (at an S/N ratio of 3) in case of bottled juice, and from 0.03 to 0.1 ng g^-1 in case of tomato samples. The enrichment factors for the four analytes are in the range of 127-183 for bottle juice, and from 110-150 for tomatos. Response is linear in the range of 1.0 to 40.0 ng mL^-1 for juice, and 0.3-40.0 ng g^-1 for tomatos. The relative standard deviations for the determination of the chlorophenols at 20 ng mL^-1 in bottled beverage, and 20 ng g^-1 in tomatos are lower than 5.7%. Graphical abstract A polytriphenylamine polymer (PTPA) was prepared by using an external cross-linker method with triphenylamine as monomer and dimethoxymethane as cross-linker, and it was used as an adsorbent to extract chlorophenols from juice and vegetable samples.