A new 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tris(pentafluoroethyl)trifluorophosphate ionic liquid based ultrasound-assisted emulsification microextraction for the determination of organic ultraviolet filters in environmental water samples.

A novel microextraction approach termed ionic liquid based ultrasound-assisted emulsification microextraction (IL-USAEME) combined with high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet (HPLC-UV) was developed for the preconcentration and detection of organic ultraviolet (UV) filters in environmental water samples. An ionic liquid (IL) was used in place of an organic solvent as in conventional USAEME. In the study, orthogonal array designs (OAD) were employed for the optimization of the extraction parameters: type of IL, pH of the sample, extraction volume, ultrasonic time and salt concentration. In the first step, a mixed level OAD matrix, OA(16) (4(1) × 2(12)) was employed for the initial optimization. Based on the results of the first step, an ultra-hydrophobic IL, 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium tris(pentafluoroethyl)trifluorophosphate was chosen as the IL extractant and sample pH was set at a value of 3. Ultrasonic time, extraction volume and salt concentration were further optimized in the second step by an OA(16) (4(5)) matrix. Under the latter optimized conditions, calibration curves with coefficients of estimation higher than 0.997 over the concentration range of 5 and 1000 ng/ml, and the relative standard deviations for six replicates of the extraction from 2.6 to 6.6% were obtained. The limits of detection for four organic UV filters were between 0.5 and 1 ng/ml. The validated technique was applied to the analysis of organic UV filters in environmental water samples.