Magnet integrated fabric phase sorptive extraction as a stand-alone extraction device for the monitoring of benzoyl urea insecticides in water samples by HPLC-DAD

Abstract

Benzoyl urea insecticides are a class of pesticides used in agriculture for the inhibition of chitin synthesis in pests. These compounds are persistent in environmental samples, and thus their monitoring is necessary to avoid detrimental effects to human health and the environment. Magnet integrated fabric phase sorptive extraction (MI-FPSE) is a recently introduced sample preparation technique that combines sample stirring and analyte extraction into one stand-alone device. However, the applicability and the potential benefits of this technique in environmental analysis remain unexplored. In the present study, MI-FPSE was employed for the first time for the extraction and preconcentration of benzoyl urea insecticides (i.e., diflubenzuron, triflumuron, hexaflumuron, lufenuron and chlorfluazuron) from environmental water samples prior to their determination by high performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). The main factors affecting the performance of the proposed methodology were thoroughly investigated and optimized and the MI-FPSE-HPLC-DAD method was validated. The proposed method enabled the handling of relatively high sample quantity resulting in high preconcentration factors (501 and 731) and good sensitivity. Under optimum conditions, the limits of detection and the limits of quantification for the benzoyl urea insecticides were 0.06 ng mL-1 and 0.20 ng mL-1, respectively. Moreover, the relative standard deviations were less than 6.1% for intra-day study and less than 8.2% for inter-day study showing good method precision. After its validation, the herein developed method was successfully employed for the analysis of tap, mineral, river, and lake water samples. In addition, the ComplexGAPI index was used to present the green potential of developed method from the step of MI-FPSE device preparation to final determination. All things considered, MI-FPSE could potentially serve as an efficient tool for the monitoring of pollutants in environmental analysis.