Study on the effect of chain-length compatibility of mixed anionic–cationic surfactants on the cloud-point extraction of selected organophosphorus pesticides

The chain-length compatibility of mixed anionic–cationic surfactants was investigated for the extraction of organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs). Cationic surfactants with different chain lengths (n = 12 and 16) were mixed with sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS; n = 12) for the mixed anionic–cationic surfactants-based extraction. Six OPPs were studied including azinphos-methyl, parathion-methyl, fenitrothion, diazinon, chlorpyrifos, and prothiophos. Reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography was used for the determination of the studied OPPs. The extraction was performed using mixtures of SDS and cationic surfactants including dodecyltrimethyl ammonium bromide or dodecyltrimethylammonium bromide (DTAB; n = 12) and cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide or cetyltrimethyl ammonium bromide (CTAB; n = 16). The parameters affecting the extraction efficiencies of two extraction systems were studied and discussed. The optimum condition for SDS-DTAB was 15 mmol L−1 SDS and 1 mmol L−1 DTAB in the presence of 15 % (w/v) sodium chloride (NaCl). Meanwhile, the condition for SDS-CTAB was 10 mmol L−1 SDS and 1.0 mmol L−1 CTAB with 10 % (w/v) NaCl. Under the optimum conditions, the extraction efficiency of SDS-DTAB (66–85 %) was slightly higher than that of SDS-CTAB (61–82 %). In addition, the SDS-DTAB system also gave greater enrichment factor than SDS-CTAB for all the studied OPPs. This result may be due to the compatibility of chain length between SDS and DTAB. The extraction using SDS-DTAB was successfully applied to determine OPPs in fruit samples (i.e., pomelo, apple, and pineapple). No contamination by the studied OPPs in samples was observed. Good accuracy with recoveries ranging from 77 to 105 % was obtained. Low limits of detection were in the range of 0.003–0.01 mg kg−1 which are below the MRLs established by EU-MRLs for the OPPs residues in fruit samples.