Preparation of fluorine functionalized magnetic nanoparticles for fast extraction and analysis of perfluorinated compounds from traditional Chinese medicine samples

Abstract

This paper demonstrates the preparation and application of 4-(trifluoromethyl)-benzoyl chloride functionalized magnetic nanoparticles (Fe₃O₄@SiO₂@TFBC MNPs) as adsorbents for magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) of perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) from 3 typical traditional Chinese medicine samples (TCMs). With the synthesized MNPs as the adsorbents, a novel magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) method was developed, by which a permanent magnet was added into the container to collect magnetic adsorbents. The new method can save the time of dumping sample solution and dumping eluent, which greatly accelerates the extraction processes. The main influencing parameters on MSPE, including adsorbent amount, desorption solvent, extraction time, sample volume and pH value of sample solutions, were investigated in detail. Ultra-high performance liquid chromatography coupled to tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) was used for the analysis of the extracted solution. The proposed MSPE showed good extraction performances in terms of efficiency, adsorbent amount and extraction time. The linear ranges of six PFCs were 0.2–20 ng L⁻¹ with the limits of detection (S/N = 3) ranging from 0.010 to 0.025 ng L⁻¹ and relative standard deviation in the range of 2.1–5.0%. The recoveries were in the range of 83.6–107.4%, and contamination at low levels was detected for some PFCs in the TCMs. These results indicated that the whole analytical method based on Fe₃O₄@SiO₂@TFBC adsorbents is simple, fast, effective and sensitive.