Facile preparation of a hydrophilic magnetic hybrid nanomaterial with solid-phase extraction capability for highly efficient enrichment of phthalates in environmental water

Abstract

Phthalic acid esters (PAEs) are involved in endocrine disrupting effects and have become a potential threat to human health. Thus, development of an appropriate and low-cost strategy to detect PAEs is vital and necessary. In this study, C₁₈-functionalized magnetic graphene/polydopamine nanosheets (magG@PDA@C₁₈) were successfully synthesized via a solvothermal reaction and self-polymerization of dopamine, followed by the fabrication of C₁₈ groups by a silylanization method. The prepared magG@PDA@C₁₈ possessed marvelous properties of good hydrophilicity, super magnetic responsiveness, and large surface area along with hydrophobic C₁₈ groups; thus, magG@PDA@C₁₈ possessed great potential for application in the magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) technique. Various extraction parameters, including pH value, adsorption time, desorption time, amounts of adsorbents, and species of the eluting solvent, have been studied and optimized. Under optimal conditions, magG@PDA@C₁₈ was applied to detect PAEs in environmental water samples and bottled water samples. The linearity varied from 50 to 8000 ng mL⁻¹, the recovery was 91.4–98.7%, the enrichment factors and limit of detection were in the range of 69–89 and 0.05–1.5 ng mL⁻¹, respectively, and the RSD was lower than 4.7%. The proposed material provided an approach for simple and rapid magnetic solid-phase extraction of hydrophobic compounds in environmental samples.