Development of homogeneous dispersive solid phase extraction using albumin as a green sorbent and its combination with dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction: application in extraction of pesticides from fruit juices

Abstract

In the current study, salt- and pH-induced homogeneous dispersive solid phase extraction was developed using albumin as a sorbent for the extraction of some pesticides (diazinon, diniconazole, haloxyfop-R-methyl, and hexaconazole) from fruit juice of orange, pomegranate, and barberry. The extracted analytes were more concentrated by dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction to obtain high enrichment factors and low detection limits prior to their determination by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. In the extraction process, human serum albumin solution was added to the sample solution at the μL-level and a homogeneous solution was obtained. Then, albumin was precipitated into the solution by adding an inorganic salt and decreasing the solution pH. By doing so, the analytes were adsorbed by albumin effectively due to their high adsorption capacity and large surface area. Following this, the pesticides were eluted from the albumin sorbent using an elution solvent and used in a dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction step. Under the optimum extraction conditions, low limits of detection and quantification were achieved in the ranges of 0.02–0.04 and 0.07–0.13 ng mL⁻¹, respectively. The calibration curves were linear in the range of 0.13–250 ng mL⁻¹. Relative standard deviation as a criterion for precision and the method repeatability were in the ranges of 2.9–4.2% for intra- (n = 5, C = 5 or 50 ng mL⁻¹) and 3.2–5.2% for inter-day (n = 5, 50 ng mL⁻¹) precisions. The enrichment factors and extraction recoveries were in the ranges of 390–460 and 78–92%, respectively. Finally, the offered procedure was applied for the analysis of pesticide residues in some fruit juice samples.