A hybrid material as a sorbent phase for the disposable pipette extraction technique enhances efficiency in the determination of phenolic endocrine-disrupting compounds

- A hybrid material is proposed as a new sorbent phase for the DPX technique.
- Phenolic endocrine disruptor compounds were determined using the new sorbent.
- The extraction efficiency was compared to a commercial DPX/styrene-divinylbenzene.
- The stability of the sorbent material in organic solvents was evaluated.
- Chemical interactions of the new sorbent coating with the analytes are exploited.

In this study, the hybrid material 3-n-propyl(3-methylpyridinium) silsesquioxane chloride (Si3Py+Cl−) was synthesized and investigated as a novel sorbent phase for the disposable pipette extraction (DPX) technique coupled to high-performance liquid chromatography-florescence detection. This sorbent phase was characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR). Aqueous samples containing the phenolic endocrine-disrupting compounds bisphenol A (BPA), 17α-ethynylestradiol (EE2), 4-tert-octylphenol (4-t-OP), 4-octylphenol (4-OP) and 4-nonylphenol (4-NP) were subjected to DPX procedures and a series of optimizations was performed to determine the ideal extraction conditions using this approach. The proposed sorbent phase exhibited higher extraction efficiency than DPX-RP (reversed phase tips containing styrene-divinylbenzene), commonly used for the determination of the phenolic endocrine- disrupting-compounds under study. Satisfactory analytical performance was achieved with linear ranges from 2 to 100 μg L−1 for 4-t-OP and 1-100 μg L−1 for the other analytes. Limits of detection of 0.60 μg L−1 for 4-t-OP and 0.30 μg L−1 for other analytes, RSDs ranging from 1 to 20% and relative recoveries of 83-116% were obtained. Based on these satisfactory results, this sorbent phase represents a valuable alternative for the extraction of compounds with polar moieties in their structure.