Evaluation of β-cyclodextrin bonded silica as a selective sorbent for the solid-phase extraction of 4-nitrophenol and 2,4-dinitrophenol

A beta-cyclodextrin bonded silica was synthesized by using a convenient method, and was evaluated as a selective sorbent for the solid-phase extraction of 4-nitrophenol and 2,4-dinitrophenol. When double-distilled water was used as the sample matrix, the sorbent showed a strong capacity to adsorb 4-nitrophenol and 2,4-dinitrophenol; the recoveries were found to be 96% and 99%, respectively, with a 1 L water sample. The selectivity of the sorbent was investigated by using a washing step with methanol. Most of the phenols were washed out with 5 mL of methanol, while 4-nitrophenol and 2,4-dinitrophenol still gave recoveries of 94% and 90%. The solution for efficiently eluting the analytes was optimized and the effect of the inorganic salt on the extraction was examined. In order to investigate the potentiality of the sorbent in dealing with real water samples, water from Donghu lake (Wuhan, China) spiked with nine phenolic compounds at microgram per liter levels were preconcentrated on this cartridge.