A novel N,N′-bis(acetylacetone)ethylenediimine functionalized silica-core shell magnetic nanosorbent for manetic dispersive solid phase extraction of copper in cereal and water samples

•Synthesis of Fe3O4@SiO2 modified with N,N′-bis(acetyl acetone)ethylenediimine.•Dispersive solid phase extraction of copper in water and cereal samples.•Optimization of the adsorption and desorption steps using experimental design.•Selective extraction of copper at the presence of different co-existing ions.•Efficient extraction of copper with low LOD. Determination of heavy metals at trace levels has a great deal of importance due to their undesirable effects on human life. In this study, N,N′-bis (acetyl acetone) ethylenediimine (Fe3O4@SiO2-EDN) was synthesized and applied for dispersive solid phase extraction of copper in water and cereal samples followed by FAAS. Sorbent characterization was investigated by SEM, FT-IR, EDX and VSM. The effective parameters were optimized using a central composite design. Under the optimal conditions, LOD (S/N = 3) and LOQ, preconcentration factor and RSD% were found to be 1.5 ng mL−1, 4.0 ng mL−1, 13 and 2.3%, respectively. The calibration curve was linear within the range of 4.0–175 ng mL−1 with r2 > 0.998. Relative recoveries were achieved within the range of 90.0–95.0%. With thanks of the good resulting analytical performance in this work, the proposed method can be applied as a suitable alternative for trace analysis of copper.