Supported imidazolium ionic liquid phases: A new material for solid-phase extraction

This study reports a material that is based on the concept of ionic liquid analogue: a slightly crosslinked polymer-supported imidazolium trifluoroacetate salt (IL-CF 3COO −) that favorably combines the properties of ionic liquids (ILs) and the advantages of a solid support. The ionic liquid-supported material was evaluated for the first time as a solid-phase extraction (SPE) sorbent for selectively and quantitatively extracting pharmaceuticals from aqueous samples. The novel IL-CF 3COO − was evaluated under reversed-phase (RP), weak anion exchange (WAX), strong anion exchange (SAX) and strong cation exchange (SCX) SPE procedures, and we found that SAX conditions are the most suitable for investigating the behaviour of the IL-CF 3COO − material. Under SAX conditions, the IL-CF 3COO − material was capable of selectively and quantitatively extracting a group of acidic compounds from aqueous samples, while washing basic analytes that were also present in the sample. The SPE method using IL-CF 3COO − material was used to analyse 1000 ml of different aqueous samples (ultrapure, tap and river) with complete recovery of the acidic compounds studied. Moreover, the method provided clean chromatogram and high recoveries when percolating complex real samples, such as 1000 ml of river water and 250 ml of effluent wastewater from a sewage treatment plant spiked at low levels with the analytes studied.