Monodisperse microporous carbon nanospheres: An efficient and stable solid phase microextraction coating material

• Sol–gel-MMCNSs SPME fiber was prepared and characterized.
• The fiber exhibited superior extraction ability for PAHs and OCPs.
• The fiber was successfully used for the analysis of PAHs and OCPs in real water samples.

The monodisperse microporous carbon nanospheres (MMCNSs) were applied in solid phase microextraction for the first time. The MMCNSs-fiber was prepared by sol–gel technique and good repeatability and reproducibility were obtained, due to the excellent monodispersity of the MMCNSs. The sol–gel-MMCNSs fiber exhibited superior extraction ability for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) and organochlorine pesticides (OCPs), compared with the commercial polydimethylsiloxane/divinylbenzene (PDMS/DVB) fiber and the fiber prepared with its precursor, the monodisperse microporous polystyrene nanospheres (MMPNSs). Moreover, the fiber has good thermostability and strong acid/base durability. The sol–gel-MMCNSs fiber was then employed to detect PAHs and OCPs in aqueous samples by combining with gas chromatography–mass spectrometer (GC–MS). Under the optimized conditions, the detection limits of the proposed method ranged from 0.10 to 5.5 ng L−1. Furthermore, the method was successfully utilized for the analysis of PAHs and OCPs in real samples, with satisfactory recoveries in the range of 81.0–120% for the Pearl River water samples and 72.8–118% for the coking wastewater samples.

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