Determination of benzo(a)pyrene in fried and baked foods by HPLC combined with vesicular coacervative supramolecular solvent extraction

A simple, rapid and low-cost determination method of benzo(a)pyrene in fried and baked foods was proposed by high performance liquid chromatography combined with vesicular coacervative supramolecular solvent (SUPRAS) extraction. The vesicular coacervate was composed of 1-octanol and tetrabutylammonium bromide. 200mg of dried samples with 600L SUPRAS could be mixed to extract benzo(a)pyrene. Neither evaporation nor further clean-up steps for the extracts were needed. The overall sample treatment took approximately 30min, and several samples could be simultaneously treated using conventional lab equipment. Then, benzo(a)pyrene was analyzed via liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection. Parameters affecting the extraction efficiency were investigated and optimized. The results showed good linearity of benzo(a)pyrene with the coefficients of determination (R-2) of more than 0.9999 in the range of 0.1-50.0 mu g/kg. The limit of detection of the method was 0.11 mu g/kg. Recoveries for spiked samples in the range of 1-10 mu g/kg were between 89.86 and 100.01%, with relative standard deviations from 1.20 to 3.20%. Benzo(a)pyrene was present in food samples (including instant noodles, biscuits, rice crust and fried bread stick) at concentrations in the range of 0.08-0.39 mu g/kg according to the proposed method. The proposed pretreatment method significantly reduces the analysis time. Furthermore, the solventless approach is in accordance with the green chemistry development trend and has significant application prospects.