Magnetic ionic liquid aqueous two-phase system coupled with high performance liquid chromatography: A rapid approach for determination of chloramphenicol in water environment

A novel organic magnetic ionic liquid based on guanidinium cation was synthesized and characterized. A new method of magnetic ionic liquid aqueous two-phase system (MILATPs) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was established to preconcentrate and determine trace amount of chloramphenicol (CAP) in water environment for the first time. In the absence of volatile organic solvents, MILATPs not only has the excellent properties of rapid extraction, but also exhibits a response to an external magnetic field which can be applied to assist phase separation. The phase behavior of MILATPs was investigated and phase equilibrium data were correlated by Merchuk equation. Various influencing factors on CAP recovery were systematically investigated and optimized. Under the optimal conditions, the preconcentration factor was 147.2 with the precision values (RSD%) of 2.42% and 4.45% for intra-day (n = 6) and inter-day (n = 6), respectively. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantitation (LOQ) were 0.14 ng mL(-1) and 0.42 ng mL(-1), respectively. Fine linear range of 12.25 ng mL(-1)-2200 ng mL(-1) was obtained. Finally, the validated method was successfully applied for the analysis of CAP in some environmental waters with the recoveries for the spiked samples in the acceptable range of 94.6%-99.72%. Hopefully, MILATPs is showing great potential to promote new development in the field of extraction, separation and pretreatment of various biochemical samples. (C) 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.