Application of a fluorocarbon chain derived silica as a dispersive solid-phase extraction sorbent for six PAEs in water samples

Phthalates (PAEs) are a class of widely used plasticizers known for their reproductive toxicity and detrimental effects on liver and kidney function. The objective of this study is to develop a dispersive solid-phase extraction (d-SPE) method for the enrichment and detection of PAEs in water samples. To achieve effective enrichment and operational convenience, a type of fluorocarbon chain derived silica (abbreviated as FC-silica), which can be dispersed well into aqueous systems, was synthesized. By polar–polar and hydrophobic interactions, the FC-silica was used for extracting six kinds of PAEs, including diethyl phthalate (DEP), diisobutyl phthalate (DIBP), dibutyl phthalate (DBP), benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), dimethyl phthalate (DMP) and di-n-octyl phthalate (DNOP), successfully. A series of parameters that may influence the extraction were studied in detail. Gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) was employed for the analysis. Under optimal conditions, linearity ranges from 1 to 100 µg mL−1 (R2 > 0.999) and limits of detection from 0.05 to 0.3 µg mL−1 were achieved for the studied PAEs. By the developed FC-silica based d-SPE and GC-FID method, DEP, DIBP, DBP and BBP ranging from 0.089 to 0.187 µg mL−1 were detected in the real lake water sample, while DMP and DNOP were not detected. The present study provided an efficient and convenient method for the analysis of PAEs.