Simultaneous determination of polar and apolar compounds in environmental samples by a polyaniline/hydroxyl multi-walled carbon nanotubes composite-coated stir bar sorptive extraction coupled with high performance liquid chromatography

• PANi/MWCNTs-OH composite-coated stir bar was prepared via the adhesion technique.
• The preparation of PANi/MWCNTs-OH composite-coated stir bars is simple and reproducible.
• PANi/MWCNTs-OH composite coating can simultaneously extract polar and apolar analytes.
• A novel method of PANi/MWCNTs-OH-SBSE-HPLC–UV was developed for environmental analysis.

Developing novel coatings for stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) is essential for extending the application of SBSE. Herein, a polyaniline/hydroxyl multi-walled carbon nanotubes (PANi/MWCNTs-OH) composite-coated stir bar was prepared via the adhesion technique for the simultaneous extraction of polar and apolar compounds, and a novel method of PANi/MWCNTs-OH-coated SBSE coupled with high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection (HPLC–UV) was proposed. To test the extraction performance of PANi/MWCNTs-OH-coated stir bar, phenols, non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, and polychlorinated biphenyls were selected as representatives for polar, semi-polar and apolar compounds, respectively. High enrichment factors (EFs) ranged from 20.4 to 60.4-fold (theoretical EF, 100-fold) for target analytes were achieved, indicating that the proposed method is applicable in simultaneous analysis of the compounds with different polarities. The prepared PANi/MWCNTs-OH-coated stir bar has a good preparation reproducibility and can be reused for 20 times. The limits of detection (LODs, S/N = 3) were found to be in the range of 0.09–0.81 μg/L. To validate the applicability, the proposed method was successfully applied to the analysis of eight target analytes in Yangtze River water after filtration and in the extract from sediment samples.