Determination of Three Organochlorine Pesticides in Aqueous Samples by Solid-Phase Extraction Based on Natural Nano Diatomite in Packed Syringe Coupled to Gas Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry

Abstract

A rapid, simple, and sensitive technique is proposed based on a miniaturized solid-phase extraction method named mictroextraction in a packed syringe coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry for the preconcentration and determination of three organochlorine pesticides. These include hexachlorobenzene, heptachlor and aldrine in aqueous samples. For the first time, the natural nano diatomite is used a sorbent. Based on this technique, 6.0 mg of the nano sorbent is inserted in a syringe between two polypropylene frits. The analytes would be adsorbed on the solid phase, and would subsequently be eluted using organic solvents. The influence of some important parameters, such as the solution pH, type and volume of the organic desorption solvent, and amount of sorbent on the extraction efficiency of the selected pesticides, is investigated. The proposed method shows good linearity in the range of 0.1–40.0 μg L–1, and at low limits of detection in the range of 0.02–0.13 μg L–1 using the selected ion-monitoring mode. The reproducibility of this method was found to be in the range of 3.5–11.1% for the understudied pesticides. In order to evaluate the matrix effect, the developed method is also applied to the preconcentration and determination of the selected pesticides in different water samples.