Determination of four trace preservatives in street food by ionic liquid-based dispersive liquid-liquid micro-extraction

A rapid and simple ionic liquid-based dispersive liquid-liquid micro-extraction (DLLME) method has been developed to pre-concentrate four paraben preservatives (methylparaben, ethylparaben, propylparaben, and butylparaben) from street food (pancakes). Several potentially influential factors such as the type of ionic liquid and disperser solvent, extraction time, sample pH, ionic strength, and the volume of the ionic liquid and disperser solvent were investigated. The optimum experimental conditions for the proposed micro-extraction process were: 0.1 mL of 1-octyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([C8MIM][PF6]) as an extraction solvent, 0.1 mL of acetonitrile as a disperser solvent, 5 min extraction time, and sample ionic strength of 30 % sodium chloride in water sample at pH 6.0. The LODs and LOQs were in the range of 1.0–1.5 ng g−1 and 3.5–4.5 ng g−1, respectively. Spiking recoveries were in the range of 60.1–79.5 % and the associated RSDs were all in the range of 1.8–7.0 %. The results show that DLLME is a suitable method for the determination of parabens in pancake samples and ionic liquid is a good extractant in this process.