A novel hollow-fibre microporous membrane liquid-liquid extraction for determination of free 4-isobutylacetophenone concentration at ultra trace level in environmental aqueous samples

Summary, in English

In this study, a method was developed for determination of the free concentration of 4-isobutylacetophenone, a toxic degradation product of ibuprofen, in river and sewage water samples from Sweden. Sample preparation and analysis were performed by a hollow-fibre microporous membrane liquid-liquid extraction (HF-MMLLE) set-up and gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS), respectively. In this novel approach, only the liquid in the membrane pores is utilised for non-depleting extraction. Several parameters were studied, including: type of organic solvent, sample pH, and salt and humic acid content. The optimised method allowed the determination of the analyte at the ng L-1 level in river and sewage water. A linear plot gave a correlation coefficient better than 0.992 and resulted in a limit of detection of 7 and 14 ng L-1 for river and sewage water, respectively. The enrichment factor was over 2000 in the fibre and over 300 after dilution. The repeatability and reproducibility were better than 5% and 10%, respectively. For the first time, 4-isobutylacetophenone was found at free concentrations of 40 ng L-1 or below in sewage waters, while it could not be quantified in a river downstream from a municipal sewage treatment plant.

• Author: Saioa Zorita; Thaer Barri; Lennart Mathiasson
• Department/s: Centre for Analysis and Synthesis
• Publishing year: 2007
• Language: English
• Pages: 30-37
• Publication/Series: Journal of Chromatography A
• Volume: 1157
• Issue: 1-2
• Links: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.chroma.2007.05.039
• Document type: Journal article
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Topic: Analytical Chemistry
• Keywords: 4-isobutylacetophenone; free dissolved concentration; hollow-fibre microporous membrane liquid-liquid extraction; sewage water
• Status: Published
• ISBN/ISSN/Other: ISSN: 0021-9673