Ferrofluid of magnetic clay and menthol based deep eutectic solvent: Application in directly suspended droplet microextraction for enrichment of some emerging contaminant explosives in water and soil samples

In this work, for the first time, ferrofluid of magnetic montmorillonite nanoclay and deep eutectic solvent was prepared and coupled with directly suspended droplet microextraction. Incorporation of ferrofluid in a miniaturized sample preparation technique resulted in achieving high extraction efficiency while developing a green analytical method. The prepared ferrofluid has strong sorbing properties and hydrophobic characteristics. In this method, a micro-droplet of ferrofluid was suspended into the vortex of a stirring aqueous solution and after completing the extraction process, was easily separated from the solution by a magnetic rod without any operational problems. The predominant experimental variables affecting the extraction efficiency of explosives were evaluated. Under optimal conditions, the limits of detection were in the range 0.22-0.91 μg L−1. The enrichment factors were between 23 and 93 and the relative standard deviations were <10%. The relative recoveries were ranged from 88 to 104%. This method was successfully applied for the extraction and preconcentration of explosives in water and soil samples, followed their determination by high performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV).