Application of robust syringe-to-syringe dispersive liquid-phase microextraction method for preconcentration and determination of mercury with the aid of an experimental design

ABSTRACT

A simple and rapid syringe-to-syringe dispersive liquid-phase microextraction (SS-DLPME) technique has been developed for the separation and preconcentration of mercury combined with UV-Vis spectrophotometry. In this method, effective factors were screened using a Plackett–Burman design (PBD) and optimized using a Box–Behnken design (BBD). Under the optimized experimental conditions, the calibration curve was linear in the range of 5–400 µg L⁻¹ with the coefficient of determination (r²) of 0.997. The detection limit, intraday precision, inter-day precision and the enrichment factor (EF) were 1.60 μg L⁻¹, 1.57%, 1.82% and 120, respectively. This method was successfully applied to the determination of Hg(II) in water, fish and human hair samples.

KEYWORDS:

• Mercury
• syringe-to-syringe dispersive liquid-phase microextraction
• spectrophotometry
• water
• fish and human hair samples

Acknowledgements

The authors wish to thank Islamic Azad University of Arak and Payame Noor University for their financial support of this study.