Facile synthesis of multifunctional attapulgite/Fe3O4/polyaniline nanocomposites for magnetic dispersive solid phase extraction of benzoylurea insecticides in environmental water samples

In this study, the superparamagnetic attapulgite/Fe 3 O 4 /polyaniline (ATP/Fe 3 O 4 /PANI) nanocomposites were successfully synthesized by a one-pot method. Fe (III) was applied as both the oxidant for the oxidative polymerization of aniline and the single iron source of Fe 3 O 4 formed by the redox reaction between aniline and Fe (III). The ATP/Fe 3 O 4 /PANI was used as sorbent for magnetic dispersive solid phase extraction (MDSPE) of benzoylurea insecticides (BUs) in environmental water samples. The as-prepared nanocomposite sorbents were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectra (FT-IR), X Ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy(SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and vibrating sample magnetometry . Various experimental parameters affecting the ATP/Fe 3 O 4 /PANI-based MDSPE procedure, including the composition of the nanocomposite sorbents, amount of ATP/Fe 3 O 4 /PANI nanocomposites, vortex time, pH, and desorption conditions were investigated. Under the optimal conditions, a good linearity was observed for all target analytes, with correlation coefficients (r 2 ) ranging from 0.9985 to 0.9997; the limits of detection (LOD) were in the range of 0.02–0.43 μg L −1 , and the recoveries of analytes using the proposed method ranged between 77.37% and 103.69%. The sorbents exhibited an excellent reproducibility in the range of 1.52–5.27% in extracting the five target analytes. In addition, the intra-day and inter-day precision values were found to be in the range of 0.78–6.86% and 1.66–8.41%, respectively. Finally, the proposed ATP/Fe 3 O 4 /PANI-based MDSPE method was successfully applied to analyze river water samples by rapid preconcentration of BUs.