Carboxylated graphene oxide/polyvinyl chloride as solid-phase extraction sorbent combined with ion chromatography for the determination of sulfonamides in cosmetics

• SPE using carboxylated graphene oxide/polyvinyl chloride as sorbent was proposed.
• Graphene oxide was synthesized and modified chemically.
• Extraction protocol was systematically optimized with multi-response optimization.
• Extraction selectivity was enhanced by introducing carboxyl group into graphene oxide.
• Extraction performance of self-assembly column was superior to commercial sorbents.

A carboxylated graphene oxide/polyvinyl chloride (CGO/PVC) material was prepared as a sorbent for the selective extraction of sulphonamides from complex sample. After being dispersed in buffer solution, sample was transferred into the prefabricated solid-phase extraction (SPE) column, which integrated extraction and cleanup into one single-step. A multi-response optimization based on the Box-Behnken design was used to optimize factors affecting extraction efficiency. Compared with the commonly commercial sorbents including MCX, WCX and C18, CGO/PVC hybrid material had higher extraction selectivity and capacity to sulphonamides. The limits of detection and quantification for seven target compounds were in the range of 3.4–7.1 μg/L and 11.4–23.7 μg/L, respectively. The self-assembly SPE cartridge was successfully used to enrich seven analytes in anti-acne cosmetics prior to ion chromatography detection with good recoveries of 87.8–102.0% and relative standard deviations of 1.2–6.4%, implying that this method was suitable for routine analysis of cosmetics.

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