Homogeneous Liquid-Liquid Microextraction for Determination of Organophosphorus Pesticides in Environmental Water Samples Prior to Gas Chromatography-Flame Photometric Detection

Abstract

In this study, homogeneous liquid-liquid microextraction (HLLME) was developed for preconcentration and extraction of 15 organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) from water samples coupling with gas chromatography followed by a flame photometric detector (HLLME-GC-FPD). In this method, OPPs were extracted by the homogeneous phase in a ternary solvent system (water/acetic acid/chloroform). The homogeneous solution was excluded by the addition of sodium hydroxide as a phase separator reagent and a cloudy solution was formed. After centrifugation (3 min at 5,000 rpm), the fine particles of extraction solvent (chloroform) were sedimented at the bottom of the conical test tube (10.0 ± 0.5 μL). Furthermore, 0.5 μL of the sedimented phase was injected into the GC for separation and determination of OPPs. Optimal results were obtained under the following conditions: volume of the extracting solvent (chloroform), 53 μL; volume of the consolute solvent (acetic acid), 0.76 mL and concentration of sodium hydroxide, 40% (w/v). Under the optimum conditions, the enrichment factors of (260-665), the extraction percent of 75.8-104%, the dynamic linear range of 0.03-300 μg L-1 and the limits of detection of 0.004-0.03 μg L-1 were obtained for the OPPs. This method was successfully applied for the extraction and determination of the OPPs in environmental water samples.