A novel polythiophene – ionic liquid modified clay composite solid phase microextraction fiber: Preparation, characterization and application to pesticide analysis

• A novel polythiophene – ionic liquid modified clay surface has been prepared.
• Polymerization was performed electrochemically on a stainless steel wire.
• This material was used as a SPME fiber in head space mode.
• This new SPME fiber was applied for analysis of pesticides in juice samples.
• Fiber adsorption properties were improved by modification of ionic liquids.

This report comprises the novel usage of polythiophene – ionic liquid modified clay surfaces for solid phase microextraction (SPME) fiber production to improve the analysis of pesticides in fruit juice samples. Montmorillonite (Mmt) clay intercalated with ionic liquids (IL) was co-deposited with polythiophene (PTh) polymer coated electrochemically on an SPME fiber. The surface of the fibers were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Operational parameters effecting the extraction efficiency namely; the sample volume and pH, adsorption temperature and time, desorption temperature and time, stirring rate and salt amount were optimized. In order to reveal the major effects, these eight factors were selected and Plackett–Burman Design was constructed. The significant parameters detected; adsorption and temperature along with the stirring rate, were further investigated by Box–Behnken design. Under optimized conditions, calibration graphs were plotted and detection limits were calculated in the range of 0.002–0.667 ng mL−1. Relative standard deviations were no higher than 18%. Overall results have indicated that this novel PTh-IL-Mmt SPME surface developed by the aid of electrochemical deposition could offer a selective and sensitive head space analysis for the selected pesticide residues.

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