Polymer-coated magnetic nanospheres for preconcentration of organochlorine and pyrethroid pesticides prior to their determination by gas chromatography with electron capture detection

Magnetic polymer nanospheres were prepared and used as adsorbents for the extraction of organochlorine and pyrethroid pesticides from water samples. The adsorbents were synthesized by miniemulsion polymerization of N-vinylimidazole and divinylbenzene and simultaneous encapsulation of oleic acid-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles. Following desorption with ethyl acetate, the target analytes beta-hexachlorocyclohexane, delta-hexachlorocyclohexane, p,p'-DDE, heptachlor, trans-chlordan, cis-chlordan, bifenthrin, beta-cypermethrin, delta-methrin, lambda-cyhalothrin and esfenvalerate were determined by gas chromatography with electron capture detection. Desorption conditions, extraction times and sample volume were screened by Plackett-Burman design and optimized by Box-Behnken design. Under the optimum conditions, the organochlorines can be quantified in the 20 to 400 ng L-1 concentration range, and the pyrethroids in the 400 to 4000 ng L-1 concentration range. The recoveries of organochlorines and pyrethroids from spiked real water samples are between 77.6 and 97.3 %, with relative standard deviations between 0.9 and 10.0 %. The method for magnetic solid phase extraction described here is fast, simple and friendly to the environment.