Development of a hydrophobic TFME combined with DLLME in the extraction of PAHs from personal care products before GC-FID determination

Abstract

Abstract In this research, a thin film microextraction method was developed for the extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from personal care products prior to their quantification by gas chromatography equipped with a flame ionization detector. Firstly, a thin mesh was immersed in a mixture of stearic acid solution in ethanol and hydrochloric acid to obtain a hydrophobic surface and then it was used in the microextraction of the target analytes. The stair-like hierarchical and hydrophobic structure of the mesh provided large contact area and high tendency towards the analytes. After desorption of the analytes from the surface of the mesh, the obtained eluent was used in the following preconcentration step e.g., dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction. The effective factors were studied and the method was validated under optimal conditions. Calibration curves were linear in the ranges of 0.3–1000, 0.1–1000, 0.1–1000, 0.1–1000, and 0.5–1000 µg/L and detection limits were 0.10, 0.04, 0.04, 0.04, and 0.20 µg/L for acenaphthene, phenanthrene, anthracene, pyrene and benzo[a] pyrene, respectively. The repeatability of the method (for 5 thin mesh made under the same conditions) was obtained in a range of 3.2–6.5%. This method was successfully used in the extraction and analysis of the personal care products as real samples and anthracene was found in one sample.