Determination of aromatic amines in environmental water samples by deep eutectic solvent-based dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction followed by HPLC-UV

This study reports a deep eutectic solvent based dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DES-DLLME) to extract aromatic amines (4-chloroaniline, 3-nitroaniline, 2-naphtylamine) in environmental water samples before their HPLC-UV determination. The hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent (DES) was prepared by mixing bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (BEHP) as a hydrogen bond acceptor and phenol as a hydrogen bond donor. Affecting factors on the extraction of the aromatic amines were investigated and optimized. Optimum conditions were: DES type: BHHP-Ph ratio: 1 to 2; pH of solution: 8.0; DES volume: 80 µL, salt amount: 10% (w/v). Under optimum conditions, the developed method showed a wide linear range of 0.2–200 µg L−1 (R2 ≥ 0.99) with satisfactory recoveries (≥90.0%). The limit of detections (LODs) and limit of quantifications (LOQs) were in the range of 0.07–0.17 µg L−1 and 0.2–0.5 µg L−1, respectively. The enrichment factors were 170, 180 and 190 for 4-chloroaninile, 3-nitroaniline, 2-naphtylamine, respectively. Based on obtained results, the proposed method is straightforward, efficient, sensitive, and eco-friendly for the extracting and determining of the aromatic amines in environmental water samples.