Facile and robust dual interaction modification of hexadecyldimethyl amine magnetic nanoparticles for the ultrasensitive analysis of perfluorinated compounds in environmental water

In this work, a novel extraction and enrichment technique based on hexadecyldimethyl amine functionalized magnetic nanoparticles has been successfully developed for the preconcentration and ultrasensitive detection of perfluorinated compounds in environmental water samples with high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with tandem triple quadrupole mass spectrometry. As a novel surfactant, hexadecyldimethyl amine functionalized on magnetic nanoparticles was realized through one-step facile and robust quaterization reaction, greatly superior to previous multiple-step and unstable modification. The functional nanoparticles of homogeneous nanospheres and excellent magnetic properties were characterized with scanning electron microscopy, X-ray diffraction patterns, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, and vibrating sample magnetometry. Dual mechanisms of both hydrophobic and electrostatic interactions were simultaneously introduced for anionic perfluorinated compounds effective enrichment. Under optimized extraction conditions, satisfactory precision and accuracy for anionic perfluorinated compounds analysis were achieved with good linear ranging from 0.5 to 20 ng/L, as well as fascinating sensitivity with low limits of detection up to 3.0 × 10(-2) -5.0 × 10(-2) ng/L. High preconcentration efficiency and extraction recoveries ranged from 81.04-103.2% with relative standard deviations (n = 5) less than 10% have also been realized. Thereby, our proposed method is convenient and efficient for enrichment, exhibiting good application prospect in future environmental perfluorinated compounds analysis.