Preconcentration of Trace Neonicotinoid Insecticide Residues Using Vortex-Assisted Dispersive Micro Solid-Phase Extraction with Montmorillonite as an Efficient Sorbent

In this work, we investigated montmorillonite for adsorption of neonicotinoid insecticides in vortex-assisted dispersive micro-solid phase extraction (VA-d-μ-SPE). High-performance liquid chromatography with photodiode array detection was used for quantification and determination of neonicotinoid insecticide residues, including thiamethoxam, clothianidin, imidacloprid, acetamiprid, and thiacloprid. In this method, the solid sorbent was dispersed into the aqueous sample solution and vortex agitation was performed to accelerate the extraction process. Finally, the solution was filtered from the solid sorbent with a membrane filter. The parameters affecting the extraction efficiency of the proposed method were optimized, such as amount of sorbent, sample volume, salt addition, type and volume of extraction solvent, and vortex time. The adsorbing results show that montmorillonite could be reused at least 4 times and be used as an effective adsorbent for rapid extraction/preconcentration of neonicotinoid insecticide residues. Under optimum conditions, linear dynamic ranges were achieved between 0.5 and 1000 ng mL(−1) with a correlation of determination (R(2)) greater than 0.99. Limit of detection (LOD) ranged from 0.005 to 0.065 ng mL(−1), while limit of quantification (LOQ) ranged from 0.008 to 0.263 ng mL(−1). The enrichment factor (EF) ranged from 8 to 176-fold. The results demonstrated that the proposed method not only provided a more simple and sensitive method, but also can be used as a powerful alternative method for the simultaneous determination of insecticide residues in natural surface water and fruit juice samples.