Synthesis of a magnetic sorbent and its application in extraction of different pesticides from water, fruit, and vegetable samples prior to their determination by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry

Abstract In this investigation, an efficient sorbent based on Fe3O4@polyphenols magnetic nanoparticles has been prepared using the extract of Mentha piperita leaves for the first time. The main purposes of this study were synthesis of economically affordable and environmentally friendly sorbent using the extract of Mentha piperita leaves and evaluating its application as a sorbent in magnetic solid phase extraction. The functional groups, magnetic property, size, and shape of the synthesized sorbent were characterized. The sorbent was utilized for the extraction and preconcentration of various pesticides (chlorpyrifos, fenazaquin, penconazole, diniconazole, oxadiazon, haloxyfop-methyl, hexaconazole, clodinafop-propargyl, tebuconazole, and fenoxaprop-p-ethyl) from vegetable, fruit, and water samples. After magnetic solid phase extraction, a dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction method was done to achieve low detection limits. The enriched pesticides were monitored by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry. The synthesized sorbent was characterized by Fourier transform infrared, scanning electron microscopy, energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy, x-ray diffraction, and vibrating sample magnetometer techniques, which confirmed the successful synthesis of the magnetic nanoparticles. The effective parameters such as the sorbent weight, ionic strength, pH, vortex time, and kind and volume of elution and extraction solvents were studied. Under optimum extraction conditions, the method showed broad linear ranges (0.05–1000 µg L-1) with low limits of detection (0.27–4.13 ng L-1) and quantification (0.91–13.8 ng L-1). Extraction recoveries and enrichment factors were in the ranges of 54–89 % and 491–811, respectively.