Extraction and determination of parabens in water samples using an aqueous two-phase system of ionic liquid and salts with beta-cyclodextrin as the modifier coupled with high performance liquid chromatography

Abstract

In this study, two methods have been applied to the extraction of parabens from aqueous solution these are ionic liquid based aqueous two-phase extraction (IL-ATPS) and ionic liquid based aqueous two-phase extraction in the presence of β-cyclodextrin (β-CD) as the modifier (IL-βCD-ATPS). The IL-βCD-ATPS method consists of 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride, [C₄mim][Cl] and β-CD. It is a new, green and simple extraction technique coupled with reversed-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC) that was applied to optimize conditions for the phase separation of parabens in water samples. The IL-βCD-ATPS method shows higher losses for water content compared to the IL-ATPS method resulting in a higher preconcentration factor and a higher distribution coefficient. A lower limit of detection of parabens in water samples was demonstrated by the IL-βCD-ATPS method. To conclude, the IL-βCD-ATPS method is superior to the IL-ATPS method for the determination of parabens in water samples. It is an economically viable approach when using β-CD because it improves the performance of the ATPS method dramatically. In addition, this chemical is cheap and non-toxic to the environment.