Natural deep eutectic solvent-based dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction of pesticides in drinking waters combined with GC-MS/MS detection

The current research aims to develop a new analytical method applying a dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) assisted by vortex and using an environmentally friendly extractant for the preconcentration of organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides followed by gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) analysis. The extractant (i.e., natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES)) is safe, cheap, biodegradable and can be prepared by simply mixing DL-menthol and decanoic acid (molar ratio 2:1). The main experimental factors affecting the extraction of all analytes evaluated (19 organochlorine and organophosphorus pesticides) have been optimised using a multivariate analysis consisting in two steps: a Plackett-Burman design followed by a central composite design (CCD). Seven experimental factors have been evaluated: (i) sample volume; (ii) NADES volume; (iii) sample pH; (iv) extraction time; (v) centrifugation time; (vi) centrifugation speed; and (vii) ionic strength (NaCl %, w v−1). For the significant variables, the optimum values were 10 mL sample and 45 μL NADES. No pH adjustment as well as addition of NaCl were needed. The other variables were set at 3 min extraction time, 5 min centrifugation time and 900×g centrifugation speed, respectively. Under the optimised extraction conditions, the limit of quantification (LOQ) values ranged between 0.2 and 78 ng L−1 for all analysed pesticides. Furthermore, the proposed analytical method has been successfully applied to drinking water (bottled spring water). The recovery study (n = 3) has been evaluated at 0.1, 1.0 and 5.0 μg L−1 spiking levels, obtaining relative recovery values within the range of 70 % and 117 % and RSD values between 1 % and 20 % for all the analytes studied, except for p,p-DDT (56–77 % in high conductivity water samples). [Display omitted] •Natural deep eutectic solvent (NADES) is used to develop an eco-friendly and easy-to-implement green DLLME.•Hazardous solvents are replaced with small volume of NADES.•NADES injection significantly enhances sensitivity in GC-MS/MS analysis.•The NADES-based-DLLME-GC-MS/MS has been used for the sensitive analysis of pesticides in drinking water.