An efficient, rapid and microwave-accelerated dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction method for extraction and pre-concentration of some organophosphorus pesticide residues from aqueous samples

• Microwave-accelerated dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction has been proposed for determination of organophosphorus pesticide (OPP) residues in aqueous samples.
• It is a simple and effective sample preparation technique for OPPs.
• The method has high enrichment factors and extraction recoveries, low limits of detection and short extraction times.

In this paper, microwave-accelerated dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction has been developed for the extraction/preconcentration of some organophosphorus pesticides from aqueous samples prior to their analysis by gas chromatography–flame ionization detection. In this method, temperature of a high volume of aqueous sample is elevated by a microwave oven and then a mixture of extraction and disperser solvents is rapidly injected into the aqueous phase. After cooling to room temperature, the phase separation is accelerated by centrifuging. The main experimental factors affecting performance of the method including type and volume of the extraction and disperser solvents, temperature, pH, and salt addition were investigated and optimized. Under the optimum extraction conditions, the method resulted in low limits of detection and quantification within the ranges of 0.65–1.3 and 2.2–4.5 μg L−1, respectively. Relative standard deviations were in the range of 2–7% (C = 40 or 100 μg L−1) for intra-day (n = 6) and inter-day (n = 4) precisions. Finally, the proposed method was successfully applied to analysis of the target analytes in surface water and well water and fruit juice samples; diazinon was determined at μg L−1 level in apple juice.