Preparation of magnetic poly(diethyl vinylphosphonate-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) for the determination of chlorophenols in water samples

In this work, a novel type of magnetic polymer particle, magnetic poly(diethyl vinylphosphonate-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) [Fe3O4@p(DEVP-co-EDMA)], was successfully synthesized and applied for the extraction and determination of chlorophenols in water samples by coupling with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Fe3O4@p(DEVP-co-EDMA) was synthesized by a simple seeded radical polymerization method and exhibited well-defined core–shell structure and good magnetic response ability. In addition, the magnetic polymer had the advantages of abundant adsorption sites and high enrichment efficiency. Due to the presence of PO group in the skeleton of polymer, the magnetic polymer material displayed excellent extraction performance for chlorophenols, such as 2-chlorophenol (2-CP), 2,4-dichlorophenol (2,4-DCP) and 2,4,6-trichlorophenol (2,4,6-TCP). Hydrophobic skeleton of the magnetic polymer also provided strong interaction with the target analytes, especially pentachlorophenol (PCP) which is a kind of non-polar chlorophenol. Desorption solution, pH of water sample, extraction time and desorption time, the amount of adsorbent, and the volume of desorption solution were optimized. Under the optimized conditions, the linear ranges of four chlorophenols were 2–500 ng/mL with the limits of detection (S/N = 3) ranging from 0.20 to 0.34 ng/mL. The repeatability was investigated by evaluating the intra- and inter-day precisions with relative standard deviations (RSDs) lower than 15.0%. The recoveries for real water samples were in the range of 92.7–108.0%. Collectively, the results indicated that the novel Fe3O4@p(DEVP-co-EDMA) was successfully applied in the extraction and detection of chlorophenols from water samples, and the magnetic polymer particle showed potential applications in the analysis of polar compounds.

► A simple method for the preparation of magnetic Fe3O4@p(DEVP-co-EDMA), was described.
► The magnetic polymer exhibits well-defined core–shell structure and abundant adsorption sites.
► The magnetic polymer displayed excellent extraction performance for both polar and non-polar chlorophenols.
► A method based on the magnetic polymer was established for analysis of chlorophenols in real water samples.