Preparation of Novel Solid Phase Extraction Sorbents for Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) in Aqueous Media

Abstract

In this study, functionalized mesoporous silica was prepared and characterized as a stationary phase using various analytical and solid-state techniques, including a Fourier-transform infrared (FTIR) spectrometer, thermogravimetric analysis, and nitrogen sorption. The results confirmed the successful synthesis of the hybrid stationary phase. The potential of the prepared hybrid mesoporous silica as a solid-phase extraction (SPE) stationary phase for separating and enriching polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in both spiked water samples and real water samples was evaluated. The analysis involved extracting the PAHs from the water samples using solid-phase extraction and analyzing the extracts using a two-dimensional gas chromatograph coupled to a time-of-flight mass spectrometer (GC × GC-TOFMS). The synthesized sorbent exhibited outstanding performance in extracting PAHs from both spiked water samples and real water samples. In the spiked water samples, the recoveries of the PAHs ranged from 79.87% to 95.67%, with relative standard deviations (RSDs) ranging from 1.85% to 8.83%. The limits of detection (LOD) for the PAHs were in the range of 0.03 µg/L to 0.04 µg/L, while the limits of quantification (LOQ) ranged from 0.05 µg/L to 3.14 µg/L. Furthermore, all the calibration curves showed linearity, with correlation coefficients (r) above 0.98. Additionally, the results from real water samples indicated that the levels of individual PAH detected ranged from 0.57 to 12.31 µg/L with a total of 44.67 µg/L. These findings demonstrate the effectiveness of the hybrid mesoporous silica as a promising stationary phase for solid-phase extraction and sensitive detection of PAHs in water samples.