Simultaneous determination of 4-tert-octylphenol, chlorpyrifos-ethyl and penconazole by GC–MS after sensitive and selective preconcentration with stearic acid coated magnetic nanoparticles

Endocrine disruptive compounds are widely used and well-known chemicals that could alter some vital processes taking place in living organisms. These chemicals might cause serious health disorders such as different types of cancer, sexual anorexia and mood disorders. In this study, combination of stearic acid coated magnetic nanoparticles based dispersive solid-phase extraction method (DSPE) and gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) instrumentation was used for the extraction/preconcentration of 4-tert-octylphenol, chlorpyrifos-ethyl and penconazole from aqueous samples. All the extraction parameters such as the amount of nanoparticles, duration of the interaction, the type and the amount of the eluent were optimized. As a result of optimization studies, limit of detection values were found to be 0.41 μg/L for 4-tert-octylphenol, 0.33 μg/L for penconazole and 9.77 μg/L for chlorpyrifos-ethyl. In order to investigate the accuracy and the applicability of the developed method in different matrices, recovery studies were performed in tap and wastewater samples. The results showed that the method is accurate and sensitive for the analytes of interest and applicable in different matrices with high recovery results.