Facile and environmentally friendly magnetic mesoporous carbon for the selective extraction of antioxidants from water

Magnetic mesoporous carbon was synthesized through facile and green soft template method and used for magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) of antioxidants, butylated hydroxytoluene (BHT) and butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA). After the MSPE, the antioxidants were determined by high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD). The adsorption of BHT and BHA was attributed to π-π stacking interaction and hydrogen bonds. Some important parameters affecting extraction efficiency were optimized. Under optimum conditions, wide linear curves of BHT and BHA in the range of 0.5–6.0 μg mL-1 with satisfactory precisions (RSDs < 2.9%) were achieved. The limit of detection of BHT and BHA was found to be 0.14 and 0.22 μg mL-1, respectively. Recoveries were between 72 and 99%. Finally, the MSPE with HPLC-DAD method was successfully applied to determine BHT and BHA in real water samples without interference peaks.