Development of magnetic multiwalled carbon nanotubes as solid-phase extraction technique for the determination of p-hydroxybenzoates in beverage

In this work, magnetic multiwalled carbon nanotubes were synthesized through a facile hydrothermal process, and then successfully used as magnetic solid-phase extraction sorbents for the determination of p-hydroxybenzoates in beverage. The prepared magnetic multiwalled carbon nanotubes presented both satisfactory superparamagnetism and strong capacity of absorption, with magnetic Fe3O4 beads of 200 nm average diameters decorated at either ends of the tubes. The hybrid nanocomposites showed a high efficiency in the extraction and enrichment of p-hydroxybenzoates via pi-pi stacking of targeted molecules onto the polyaromatic composed surface of multiwalled carbon nanotubes, which entitled them promising magnetic solid-phase extraction sorbents for p-hydroxybenzoates at trace level from complex drink samples. By using an external magnetic field, p-hydroxybenzoates adsorbed on magnetic multiwalled carbon nanotubes could be rapidly isolated in only 30 s, and subsequently analyzed by liquid chromatography-diode array detector after elution with organic solvents. Extraction conditions such as eluting solvent, the amounts of magnetic sorbents added, pH values, adsorption and desorption time were investigated and optimized to achieve the best effect. Method validations including linearity, detection limit, and precision were also studied. The linearities were in the wide range of 0.05-500 mu g/mL with correlation coefficients higher than 0.9983 for all p-hydroxybenzoates. The limits of detection were less than 20 ng/mL. Acceptable RSDs were achieved within 5-8% for all analytes. The results indicated that the proposed method based on magnetic multiwalled carbon nanotubes as magnetic solid-phase extraction absorbents was rapid, efficient, and convenient for the analysis of the targeted compounds of p-hydroxybenzoates in beverage sample.