Emerging pollutants represent a group of natural and synthetic compounds
whose presence in the environment is increasing due to anthropogenic activities and the
chemicalization of modern society. These compounds with unknown toxicities and
long-term effects, have not yet been subject to environmental regulations. Therefore, the
development of ultrasensitive multi-residue analytical methods for their determination is
necessary. In water analysis, solid-phase extraction (SPE) using SPE cartridges has been
widely utilized as a sample preparation step, followed by instrumental analysis using
LC-MS/MS. However, in recent years, dispersive micro solid-phase extraction
(DMSPE) has gained recognition for its versatility, rapid procedure, and reduced
consumption of organic solvents. Notably, DMSPE allows for the use of mixtures of
various sorbents, expanding the range of possible interactions with diverse analytes. In
this study, various sorbent types were tested, and extraction and desorption conditions
were optimized to develop a DMSPE method for the determination of twenty selected
pollutants with diverse physicochemical properties from water samples. The extracts
were analysed using UHPLC-DAD or UHPLC-MS/MS with separation on a reversephase chromatographic column. The achieved recovery rates for the target compounds
ranged from 18% to 110% (with 9 compounds exhibiting satisfactory recoveries above
50%). This resulted in preconcentration factors ranging from 5 to 29. The relative
standard deviation (RSD) for the extraction recoveries of all compounds was below
10%.
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