Solvent-bar microextraction of herbicides combined with non-aqueous field-amplified sample injection capillary electrophoresis

Solvent-bar microextraction (SBME) based on two-phase (water-to-organic) extraction was for the first time used as the sample pretreatment method for the non-aqueous capillary electrophoresis (NACE) of herbicides of environmental concern. Due to the compatibility of the extractant organic solvent and the NACE separation system, the extract could be introduced directly to the CE system after SBME. Through investigations of the effect of sample pH, extraction time, agitation speed and salt addition on extraction efficiency, the most suitable extraction conditions were determined: sample solution at a pH of 1, without added salt, and stirring at 700 revolutions per minute for 30 min. SBME as applied here was also compared with single-drop microextraction and hollow fiber-protected liquid-phase microextraction. SBME showed the highest extraction efficiency. In addition, field-amplified sample injection with pre-introduced organic solvent plug removal using the electroosmotic flow as a pump (FAEP) was used to enhance the sensitivity further in NACE. Based on studies of the effect of different organic solvents, different lengths of the organic plugs and different volumes of sample injection on stacking efficiency under the most suitable separation conditions, methanol was found to be the most efficient solvent for on-line preconcentration. Combined with SBME, FAEP-NACE achieved limits of detection of between 0.08 ng/mL and 0.14 ng/mL for the studied analytes. This preconcentration approach for NACE was demonstrated to be amenable to aqueous environmental samples by applying it to spiked river water.