Melamine sponge functionalized with carbon nanodots for the extraction of polyaromatic hydrocarbons and musks from environmental samples prior to their determination by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

In this study, the functionalization of melamine sponge (MeS) with graphene quantum dots (GQDs) and its use as a sorbent for the extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and musks from environmental samples are presented. The MeS@GQDs is prepared by modification of the MeS with GQDs in a one-pot, single-step, in situ synthesis, using citric acid as carbon source. The produced MeS@GQDs was used to develop and optimize an analytical method based on solid-phase extraction mode, for the subsequent analysis of soil samples and treated effluents exploiting the extraction properties of the synthesized MeS@GQDs. The developed method not only presented satisfactory repeatability (RSD<8.7%) and inter-day repeatability (RSD<9.6%), but also its limits of quantification were found to be low (15-80 ng L-1). Moreover, the proposed method was linear in a wide range of concentrations (0.015-11.8 mu g L-1) and the recoveries from difficult matrixes, such as treated effluents and soil, were satisfactory. Overall, the use of the sorbent for the development of a new analytical method was found to be advantageous as compared with other reported methods. (C) 2022 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Automated summary

In this study, the functionalization of melamine sponge (MeS) with graphene quantum dots (GQDs) for the extraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and musks from environmental samples was investigated. The results showed that the synthesized MeS@GQDs exhibited good repeatability and satisfactory recoveries in the analysis of soil samples and treated effluents.