Polymeric Sorbent with Controlled Surface Polarity: An Alternate for Solid-Phase Extraction of Nerve Agents and Their Markers from Organic Matrix

Extraction and identification of lethal nerve agents and their markers in complex organic background have a prime importance from the forensic and verification viewpoint of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). Liquid–liquid extraction with acetonitrile and commercially available solid phase silica cartridges are extensively used for this purpose. Silica cartridges exhibit limited applicability for relatively polar analytes, and acetonitrile extraction shows limited efficacy toward relatively nonpolar analytes. The present study describes the synthesis of polymeric sorbents with tunable surface polarity, their application as a solid-phase extraction (SPE) material against nerve agents and their polar as well as nonpolar markers from nonpolar organic matrices. In comparison with the acetonitrile extraction and commercial silica cartridges, the new sorbent showed better extraction efficiency toward analytes of varying polarity. The extraction parameters were optimized for the proposed method, which include...