Magnetic polymer particles as a highly efficient and facile cleanup adsorbent for multi-pesticide residues analysis in aquatic products.

A novel and efficient sample pretreatment procedure using magnetic particles was exploited for the determination of multi-pesticide residues in aquatic products. The magnetic adsorbent was prepared using divinyl benzene and N-vinyl pyrrolidone as functional monomers modified on the Fe3O4 @SiO2. The obtained magnetic adsorbent, octadecylsilane sorbents, and graphitized carbon black were employed as effective adsorbents to remove matrix interferences in aquatic products, and their dosages were optimized. Satisfactory levels of accuracy and precision were procured under optimum conditions. The method limits of quantification ranged from 0.1 to 2.0 µg/kg. The analytical accuracy of the developed method for the analysis of multi-pesticide residues in freshwater and seafood products was validated. It was found to be suitable for the analysis of multi-pesticide residues in different types of aquatic products. Additionally, the method was successfully applied for the analysis of pesticide residues in fish samples obtained from aquaculture plants located in Zhejiang Province, China. The detected concentrations of pesticides ranged from 0.14 to 0.95 µg/kg. In general, this method shows promising application prospects for the rapid determination of multi-pesticide residues in aquatic products.

Rapid and sensitive analytical strategy for multi-class antibiotic residues analysis in aquatic products with amphiphilic magnetic polymer particles as an effective cleanup adsorbent.

Multi-class antibiotic analysis in aquatic products is still challenging owing to the complex matrix and low co-extraction efficiency of various antibiotics. A facile and sensitive sample pretreatment method based on magnetic dispersive solid-phase extraction was thus developed via systematic optimization of extraction and purification procedure. The multi-class antibiotics can simultaneously be extracted by acetonitrile-2 % acetic acid. Amphiphilic magnetic particles and C18 were used as adsorbents to remove matrix interferences, affording significantly reduced matrix effects of analytes. Under the optimum conditions, satisfactory linearity, recovery, precision, and sensitivity were achieved. The method limits of quantification were 0.25-0.5 µg kg-1. Besides, it displayed obvious advantages in operation convenience and efficiency due to the usage of magnetic particles. The developed method was successfully used to analyze antibiotic residues in both freshwater and seafood products, manifesting its suitability for antibiotic residues analysis in aquatic products.

Development of magnetic solid phase extraction using magnetic amphiphilic polymer for sensitive analysis of multi-pesticides residue in honey.

A sensitive and time-saving method for the determination of multi-pesticide residues in honey was developed using magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) coupled with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Magnetic polymer (N-vinyl pyrrolidone-divinyl benzene) (MVP-DB) was fabricated and employed as the adsorbent for extraction and enrichment of multi-pesticide residues in honey. MVP-DB contains lipophilic benzene ring, divinyl group, and hydrophilic pyrrolidone group. The good hydrophilic and hydrophobic structure of MVP-DB not only ensures sufficient dispersion in honey samples, but also enhances the ability to enrich target analytes. The predominant factors affecting the recoveries of analytes were systematically investigated, affording a rapid and highly efficient MSPE method. Under the optimal conditions, the method was verified, including the recovery, precision, linearity, sensitivity, and matrix effects. The results displayed that these pesticides showed good linearity in the range of 2-250 µg L-1. The MLOQs were 0.5 µg kg-1. The recoveries of pesticides in honey at the pre-spiked concentrations of 0.5-25 µg kg-1 were 61.6%-112% with RSDs less than 18.2%. Hence, the developed method displayed good application prospect for the determination of multi-pesticide residues in honey samples.

Stereoselective bioaccumulation and dissipation of pyrisoxazole in earthworm-soil microcosm.

Pyrisoxazole is a chiral fungicide with high sterilizing activity to the plant pathogenic bacteria. It has two chiral C atoms, which bring four stereoisomers. The present work was the first time to explore the stereoselective bioaccumulation behavior of pyrisoxazole in earthworms by chiral liquid chromatography coupled to quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry (LC-Q-TOF/MS). The absolute configurations of pyrisoxazole stereoisomers were confirmed by circular dichroism (CD) coupled with calculated electronic circular dichroism (ECD) method, and the elution order in Lux Cellulose-3 column was as follows: (-)-3S, 5R-pyrisoxazole, (+)-3R, 5S-pyrisoxazole, (+)-3S, 5S-pyrisoxazole and (-)-3R, 5R-pyrisoxazole. The recoveries of pyrisoxazole stereoisomers in earthworm and soil samples ranged from 80.8 % to 101 % with the RSD lower than 6.3 %. In bioaccumulation progress, (+)-3R, 5S-pyrisoxazole was accumulated preferentially in earthworms, and the bioaccumulation concentrations of high-activity (-)-3S, 5R-pyrisoxazole were the lowest. There were no stereoselective bioaccumulation between (+)-3S, 5S-pyrisoxazole and (-)-3R, 5R-pyrisoxazole, while there was diastereoselectivity between Z-pyrisoxazole and E-pyrisoxazole with higher E-pyrisoxazole concentrations. In the whole bioaccumulation process, the BAF values of (+)-3R, 5S-pyrisoxazole were significantly higher than (-)-3S, 5R-pyrisoxazole, and the BAF values of (-)-3S, 5R-pyrisoxazole were the lowest. The dissipation of pyrisoxazole stereoisomers in the artificial soil was very slow and had no stereoselectivity, and the existence of earthworms had little effects on the dissipation of pyrisoxazole stereoisomers, which indicated that the stereoselective behaviors of pyrisoxazole in earthworms were caused by the stereoselective enrichment and dissipation of earthworms themselves. Taken together, (-)-3S, 5R-pyrisoxazole was recommend as a commercial product. This study played a positive role in guiding the development of environmentally friendly pesticides and provided database for the environmental and biological risk assessment of pyrisoxazole.

Molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction coupled with HPLC for the selective determination of monobutyl phthalate in bottled water.

A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was prepared using monobutyl phthalate as template. The synthesis was optimized by using different porogens and functional monomers. The MIP was used as a selective sorbent in molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MIP-SPE) for pre-concentration and determination of monobutyl phthalate (mBP) from the bottled water. The difference in recognition selectivity of the polymer columns was observed in HPLC system, and the effect of the mobile phase on the performance of MIP columns was also investigated. Control of the MIP-SPE process is seen as important in helping to facilitate the selective extraction of mBP from water samples. Thereafter, the choice of washing solvent, eluting solvent amount, pH of loading sample, flow rate of loading solution and the loading sample volume was presented. The optimized procedure was described as follows: 25 mL spiked aqueous solution was percolated through the MIP-SPE cartridge at the flow rate of 1.5 mL/min. After rinsing with acetonitrile/methanol mixture (1:1, v/v), the bound analyte was desorbed with 3 mL methanol. The developed MIP-SPE method was demonstrated to be applicable for the analysis of mBP in the bottled water.

Regulating immobilization performance of metal-organic coordination polymers through pre-coordination for biosensing.

We propose a method for regulating biomolecules immobilization performance of metal-organic coordination polymers (MOCPs) through pre-coordination for highly sensitive biosensing. 2,5-dimercapto-1,3,4-thiadiazole (DMcT) was used as organic monomers. Firstly, using CuCl2 as the source of metal ions to form short oligomers with DMcT (MOCPsCu), which can regulate the length of ligands through pre-coordination. Then exploiting NaAuCl4 as the source of Au ions to coordinate both short oligomers and biomolecules (MOCPsCu+Au), since Au ions can coordinate with both N and S atoms. Through controlling the concentration of CuCl2, oligomers with desired length could be readily obtained to prepare MOCPsCu+Au framework with controllable porosity and enzyme entrapment efficiency. Thus MOCPsCu+Au offers several advantages including improved mass transfer efficiency and biocatalytic sensitivity than conventional MOCPs using single metal ions. Glucose oxidase (GOx) was used as the representative biomolecule, the entrapment ratio of enzyme in MOCPsCu+Au case reached an extreme value of 100%. These MOCPsCu+Au biocomposites modified electrode also showed greatly enhanced biocatalytic sensitivity (127 µA cm-2 mM-1) and very low detection limit (58 nM), compared with those reported analogues. The new materials/strategy may create new avenue to regulate the performance of ligand-constructed polymers and their composites for entrapment-based applications.

Optimized cleanup method for the determination of short chain polychlorinated n-alkanes in sediments by high resolution gas chromatography/electron capture negative ion-low resolution mass spectrometry.

The performances of three adsorbents, i.e. silica gel, neutral and basic alumina, in the separation of short chain polychlorinated n-alkanes (sPCAs) from potential interfering substances such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and organochlorine pesticides were evaluated. To increase the cleanup efficiency, a two-step cleanup method using silica gel column and subsequent basic alumina column was developed. All the PCB and organochlorine pesticides could be removed by this cleanup method. The very satisfying cleanup efficiency of sPCAs has been achieved and the recovery in the cleanup method reached 92.7%. The method detection limit (MDL) for sPCAs in sediments was determined to be 14 ng g(-1). Relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) of 5.3% was obtained for the mass fraction of sPCAs by analyzing four replicates of a spiked sediment sample. High resolution gas chromatography/electron capture negative ion-low resolution mass spectrometry (HRGC/ECNI-LRMS) was used for sPCAs quantification by monitoring [M-HCl](-) ions. When applied to the sediment samples from the mouth of the Daliao River, the optimized cleanup method in conjunction with HRGC/ECNI-LRMS allowed for highly selective identifications for sPCAs. The sPCAs levels in sediment samples are reported to range from 53.6 ng g(-1) to 289.3 ng g(-1). C(10)- and C(11)-PCAs are the dominant residue in most of investigated sediment samples.

2,4-Dimethylphenol imprinted polymers as a solid-phase extraction sorbent for class-selective extraction of phenolic compounds from environmental water.

A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was prepared using 2,4-dimethylphenol (2,4-DMP) as template. The synthesis is optimized by using three different porogens, chloroform, acetonitrile and toluene. The MIP was used as a class-selective sorbent in molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MIP-SPE) for pre-concentration and determination of phenolic compounds from the environmental water. The difference in recognition selectivity of the polymer columns was observed in HPLC system. The variables affecting the extraction efficiency of MIP-SPE procedure were systematically investigated to facilitate the class-selective extraction of phenols from spiked water samples. The spiked aqueous solution was adjusted to pH 6.0 before being percolated through the MIP-SPE cartridge at the flow rate of 0.5mLmin(-1). After rinsing with dichloromethane, the bound phenolic compounds were desorbed with acetonitrile containing 5% aqueous ammonia. The developed MIP-SPE method was demonstrated to be applicable to the analysis of phenolic compounds in the environmental water.