Dispersive liquid-phase microextraction using ionic liquid as extractant for the enrichment and determination of DDT and its metabolites in environmental water samples

Ionic liquids are a kind of environmentally friendly solvents which have drawn great attention in many fields. The potential of ionic liquid as dispersive liquid-phase microextraction (DLPME) solvent for the enrichment of typical persistent organic pollutants, dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane (DDT), and its metabolites including 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis-(4′-chlorophenyl)ethane and 1,1-dichloro-2,2-bis-(4′-chlorophenyl)ethylene has been investigated. Parameters that may influence the extraction efficiency, such as the type and volume of ionic liquid, the type and volume of disperser solvent, extraction time, and sample pH, were investigated and optimized in detail. The experimental results showed the excellent linear relationship between peak area and the concentration of DDT and its metabolites over the range of 1–50 μg L−1, and the precisions (RSDs) were 5.27–6.73% under the optimal conditions. The limits of detection could reach 0.33–0.63 μg L−1. Satisfied results were achieved when the proposed method was applied to determine the target compounds in real-world water samples with spiked recoveries over the range 94.4–115.3%. All these facts indicated that ionic liquid DLPME coupled to HPLC was an environmentally friendly alternative for the rapid analysis of DDT and its metabolites at trace level in environmental water samples.