Using multiwalled carbon nanotubes as solid phase extraction adsorbents for determination of chloroacetanilide herbicides in water

Multiwalled carbon nanotubes were used as solid phase extraction (SPE) adsorbent for the determination of four chloroacetanilide herbicides (alachlor, acetochlor, metolachlor and butachlor) in water. The primary factors that influence the efficiency of the SPE performance, such as the amount of the adsorbent, the eluent solvent, the pH and the sample volume, were investigated and optimized. Under optimized conditions, the recoveries of the four herbicides at three spike levels were in the range 76.7-104.4%, and the RSDs ranged from 2.5-12.7%. Good linearity was obtained for the pesticides in the concentration range 0.0025-2.5 mg L-1, and the detection limits were 0.01-0.03 mu g L-1 at signal-to-noise ratios of 3:1. The method was successfully applied to the determination of these analytes in tap water and river water.