Preparation of a polymeric ionic liquid-coated solid-phase microextraction fiber by surface radical chain-transfer polymerization with stainless steel wire as support

Polymeric 1-vinyl-3-octylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate was synthesized in situ on stainless steel wire by surface radical chain-transfer polymerization and used as sensitive coatings in solid-phase microextraction. The outer surface of the stainless steel wire was firstly coated with microstructured silver layer via silver mirror reaction and then functionalized with self-assembled monolayers of 1,8-octanedithiol, which acted as chain transfer agent in the polymerization. Coupled to gas chromatography, extraction performance of the fiber was studied with both headspace and direct-immersion modes using benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes (BTEX), phenols and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAHs) as model analytes. In combination with the microstructured silver layer, the PIL-coated fiber exhibited high extraction efficiency. Linear ranges for BTEX with headspace mode were in the range of 0.2–1000 μg L−1 for benzene, and 0.1–1000 μg L−1 for toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes. Limits of detection (LODs) were from 0.02 to 0.05 μg L−1. Wide linear ranges of direct-immersion mode for the extraction of several phenols and PAHs were also obtained with correlation coefficients (R) from 0.9943 to 0.9997. The proposed fiber showed good durability with long lifetime. RSDs of 56 times extraction were still in an acceptable range, from 8.85 to 22.8%.

► A novel polymeric 1-vinyl-3-octylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate-coated SPME fiber was synthesized in situ on stainless steel wire by surface radical chain-transfer polymerization.
► A microstructured silver layer was employed to functionalize the stainless steel wire with self-assembled dithiol.
► The fiber exhibited high extraction efficiency and excellent durability.