Mesoporous titanium oxide with high-specific surface area as a coating for in-tube solid-phase microextraction combined with high-performance liquid chromatography for the analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons

Stainless-steel wires coated with mesoporous titanium oxide were placed into a polyether ether ketone tube for in-tube solid-phase microextraction, and the coating sorbent was characterized by X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy. It was combined with high-performance liquid chromatography to build an online system. Using eight polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons as the analytes, some conditions including sample flow rate, sample volume, organic solvent content, and desorption time were investigated. Under optimum conditions, an online analysis method was established and provided good linearity (0.03-30 mu g/L), low detection limits (0.01-0.10 mu g/L), and high enrichment factors (77.6-678). The method was applied to determine target analytes in river water and water sample of coal ash, and the recoveries are in the range of 80.6-106.6 and 80.9-103.5%, respectively. Compared with estrogens and plasticizers, extraction coating shows better extraction efficiency for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons.