Preparation of anilinemethyltriethoxysilane/polydimethylsiloxane sol–gel coatings for solid-phase microextraction of aromatic compounds

Anilinemethyltriethoxysilane (AMTEOS) was first used as precursor as well as selective stationary phase to prepare the sol–gel derived anilinemethyltriethoxysilane/polydimethylsiloxane (AMTEOS/PDMS) solid-phase microextraction (SPME) fibers. The novel SPME fiber exhibits high extraction efficiency, good thermal stability and long lifetime compared with commercial SPME coatings. In addition, the phenyl groups in the porous layer can exhibit π–π interactions with aromatic compounds, such as monocyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (MAHs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Therefore, SPME using the AMTEOS/PDMS sol–gel fiber coupled with GC-FID was recommended as a sensitive and selective method towards the analysis of these compounds in environmental water samples. The optimal extraction conditions were investigated by adjusting extraction time, salt addition, extraction temperature, and desorption time. The method showed linearity between 2 and 4000 μg l−1 for MAHs and 1 and 1000 μg l−1 for PAHs. The limit of detection (LOD) was 0.6–3.8 μg l−1for MAHs and 0.2–1.5 μg l−1 for PAHs. The novel AMTEOS/PDMS fiber was applied to extract small amount of aromatic compounds in wastewater and river water respectively. The recovery of the method was acceptable for quantitative analysis.