A Novel Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Based on Carbon Nanotubes for Selective Determination of Dioctyl Phthalate from Beverage Samples Coupled with GC/MS

Phthalates represent a potential risk for humans, since they are ubiquitous environmental contaminants. Efficient extraction and purification procedures are demanded for the detection of low concentration levels of phthalates. In this work, a novel type of molecularly imprinted polymers coated onto the surface of vinyl functionalized multi-walled carbon nanotubes was synthesized and coupled with gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC/MS) for the selective separation and determination of dioctyl phthalate (DOP) in beverage samples. The morphology, structure property, and thermostability of the resultant polymers were characterized by transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and thermogravimetric analysis. The adsorption properties of the prepared polymers were investigated by equilibrium rebinding and competitive experiments. The resultant imprinted nanomaterials exhibited high capacity and favorable selectivity. In addition, the feasibility of the developed method using the obtained imprinted polymers as a solid-phase sorbent coupled with GC/MS for the selective isolation and determination of DOP in different beverage samples was demonstrated. Under optimal conditions, the limit of detection of the proposed method for DOP was 2.3 ng L−1. DOP spiked at three levels of concentration in beverage samples was extracted and determined through the application of the present method, with recoveries ranging from 88.6 to 93.0 % with relative standard deviations less than 5.6 %.