Electrosynthesis of metal coordination cluster Zn5/polyaniline composite coating for headspace solid phase microextraction of nine volatile phenolic compounds in aqueous samples

A novel polyaniline (PANI) coating doped with Zn 5 (H 2 L n ) 6 (NO 3 ) 4 (Zn 5 , H 3 L n =(1,2-bis(benzimidazole-2-yl)-ethenol) cluster on a stainless-steel wire was prepared by the electrodeposition method for the headspace solid-phase microextraction (HS-SPME) of nine volatile phenols. Scanning electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectrometry, energy dispersive spectrometry and thermogravimetry were employed to characterize the morphology, composition, structure and thermal stability of the Zn 5 /PANI composite coating. The extraction efficiency of the Zn 5 /PANI composite coating for nine phenols was nearly 2 times higher than that of pure PANI coating. After the extraction conditions were optimized, an HS-SPME-gas chromatography-flame ionization detector (GC-FID) method was developed for the determination of nine phenols in water samples. The HS-SPME-GC-FID method had superior analytical performance with good linearities (0.05–50.0 μg/L) and low limits of detection (0.01–0.08 μg/L). Then, the proposed method was successfully applied for the determination of nine phenols in water samples with satisfactory recoveries (79.4–110.0%).