Exploring hand-portable nano-liquid chromatography for in place water analysis: Determination of trimethylxanthines as a use case

Analytical performance and optimization of figures of merit of a portable nano liquid chromatograph (NanoLC) with UV detection at 255 nm have been established for in place analysis. Methylxanthines: caffeine, theophylline and theobromine were selected as target analytes. A fast lab method based on IT-SPME coupled on line with capillary liquid chromatograph (CapLC) with diode array detection (DAD) was employed for comparative studies. IT-SPME and solid phase extraction were coupled off-line to NanoLC for improving instrumental parameters, mainly detection capacity and selectivity. IT-SPME or SPE/portable NanoLC based methods were superior in terms of chromatographic resolution and organic solvent consumption per sample, around 200 μL vs 10 mL for IT-SPME-CapLC-DAD. Limits of detection (LODs) obtained with the SPE/portable NanoLC were 2–10 ng/mL, which can be suitable for testing the presence of the analytes in several environmental waters in the field. As predictable, the lab method provided better LODs, between 0.1 and 0.5 ng/mL. Good linearity was achieved for both methods and precision was similar for them (≤7%). Both systems were tested for the analysis of real water samples with suitable results. [Display omitted] •This paper explored the possibilities of a portable NanoLC for water analysis.•Methylxanthines in water samples as a use case have been considered.•A protocol based on SPE has been developed which can be carried out on-site.•Limits of detection obtained with the SPE/portable NanoLC were 2–10 ng/mL.•First time that a portable NanoLC system has been used for organic analysis in real water samples.