Ultrasound-assisted ionic liquid-based micellar extraction combined with microcrystalline cellulose as sorbent in dispersive microextraction for the determination of phenolic compounds in propolis

•A novel IL-based micellar extraction combined with DMSPE is presented.•Microcrystalline cellulose is used as a sorbent.•The method is applied to determine phenolic compounds in propolis.•The method has the advantages of simplicity, low amounts of organic solvents and high efficiency.

An ionic liquid-(IL) based micellar extraction combined with microcrystalline cellulose- (MCC) assisted dispersive micro solid-phase extraction method was developed to extract phenolic compounds from propolis. A total of 20 target compounds were identified by ultra-high- performance liquid chromatography coupled with quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry. The main extraction parameters were optimized and included the ultrasonic power, ultrasonic time, sample pH, type of IL, the concentration of [C12mim]Br, extraction time, concentration of MCC, type of sorbent and type of elution solvents. Under the optimum conditions, the proposed method exhibited good linearities (r2 ≥ 0.999) for all plant phenolic compounds with the lower limits of detection in the range of 0.21-0.41 ng/mL. The recoveries ranged from 82.74% to 97.88% for pinocembrin, chrysin and galangin. Compared with conventional solvent extraction, the present method was simpler and more efficient and required less organic solvent and a shorter extraction time. Finally, the methodology was successfully used for the extraction and enrichment of phenolic compounds in propolis.

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