Investigation of a variety of cationic surfactants attached to cation-exchange silica for hydrophobicity optimization in admicellar solid-phase extraction for high-performance liquid and gas chromatography.
A series of cationic surfactants were attached to cation-exchange silica that included silica modified with sulfopropyl groups and unmodified silica to create hydrophobic solid-phase extraction sorbents. Various chain lengths and chain numbers of amine, ammonium and pyridinium-based cationic surfactants were investigated to reach sufficient sorbent hydrophobicity to capture US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) priority polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Of the tested surfactant/silica combinations, dihexadecyldimethylammonium cations attached to unmodified silica resulted in the sorbent having the greatest hydrophobicity. This sorbent provided strong hydrophobic attraction of PAHs and also efficient elution because the PAHs were removed together with the surfactant using a very mild 5% acetic acid in methanol rinse solution. This admicellar solid-phase extraction procedure was applied for the determination of these PAHs for both high-performance liquid and gas chromatography. The detection limits of these PAHs were below the EPA's maximum contaminant level of 0.2 microg/L.
Zhao
Qing
Q
Department of Chemistry, Western Kentucky University, Bowling Green, KY 42101, USA.
Simmons
Justin
J
Conte
Eric D
ED
D002411:Cation Exchange Resins / Q000737:chemistry*; D002849:Chromatography, Gas / Q000379:methods*; D002851:Chromatography, High Pressure Liquid / Q000379:methods*; D057927:Hydrophobic and Hydrophilic Interactions; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons / Q000032:analysis; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012822:Silicon Dioxide / Q000737:chemistry*; D013501:Surface-Active Agents / Q000737:chemistry*
D002411:Cation Exchange Resins; D011084:Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; D013501:Surface-Active Agents; D012822:Silicon Dioxide