Magnetic ionic liquid-based dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction for the determination of triazine herbicides in vegetable oils by liquid chromatography

• DLLME was used for preconcentration of triazine herbicides from vegetable oils.
• Magnetic ionic liquid was select as a novel microextraction solvent of DLLME.
• Magnetic separation of the ionic liquid met the requirement of rapid analysis.
• The performances were acceptable in comparison to existing methods.

Magnetic ionic liquid-based dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (MIL-based DLLME) was developed for extracting triazine herbicides from vegetable oils. The MIL, 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrachloroferrate ([C6mim] [FeCl4]), was used as the microextraction solvent. The magnetic separation time was shortened by simply mixing carbonyl iron powder with the MIL in the sample after DLLME. The effects of several important experimental parameters, including the amount of MIL, the time of ultrasonic extraction, the type and the volume of cleanup solvent were investigated. The MIL-based DLLME coupled with liquid chromatography gave the limits of detection of 1.31–1.49 ng mL−1 and limits of quantification of 4.33–4.91 ng mL−1 for triazine herbicides. When the present method was applied to the analysis of vegetable oil samples, the obtained recoveries were in the range of 81.8–114.2% and the relative standard deviations were lower than 7.7%. Compared with existing methods, the performances achieved by the present method were acceptable.