Bar adsorptive microextraction (BAμE) with a polymeric sorbent for the determination of emerging contaminants in water samples by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract

In this study, a simple and sensitive method was established and validated for the determination of 13 emerging contaminants, representative of pharmaceuticals, hormones, plasticizers and flame retardants, in water using bar adsorptive microextraction (BAμE) followed by ultra-high performance liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). Different coating phases (Oasis® HLB, C18 and GCB) were evaluated and the preparation, stability tests and development of the BAμE device are discussed. In order to select the best combination of experimental conditions for extraction and back extraction, a central composite design was applied. The polymeric sorbent Oasis® HLB presented the best performance. Validation results were satisfactory, since the method presented recoveries between 74 and 118% with relative standard deviations (RSDs) < 19%. In terms of analytical performance, method detection limits from 0.012 to 0.6 μg L⁻¹ were obtained. The proposed method combines a simple and effective multiple sample preparation step for the determination of emerging contaminants of different classes in water using BAμE followed by UHPLC-MS/MS analysis. The method applicability was evaluated using surface and drinking water and 6 positive samples were found indicating the presence of bisphenol A (0.08 to 0.665 μg L⁻¹) and paracetamol (0.104 to 4.2 μg L⁻¹).