DOI: https://doi.org/10.55373/mjchem.v24i2.79

Keywords: Dispersive Micro Solid Phase Extraction; Response Surface Methodology; Central Composite Design; tetracycline antibiotics; water samples

Abstract

A dispersive micro solid phase extraction (D-µ-SPE) method was developed using C18 for the extraction and pre-concentration of tetracycline antibiotics (TCs) in water samples prior to analysis by high performance liquid chromatography - ultraviolet/diode array detector (HPLC-UV/DAD). The selected TCs residues were tetracycline (TC), oxytetracycline (OTC) and doxycycline (DOC). A Central Composite Design (CCD) of Response Surface Methodology (RSM) was used to optimize the mass of sorbent and extraction time. Results showed that the coefficient of determination, R2, for the extraction of the selected TCs was 0.9980, indicating a well fit model. The optimum conditions obtained from the extraction analysis were 75 mg sorbent mass and 30 min extraction time. Under these optimum conditions, good linearities were obtained over the range of 0.1-10 mg L-1 with R2 values of 0.9990-0.9997 and a detection limit of 0.053-0.099 mg L-1. The method was successfully applied to river and tap water samples. The developed method proved to be simple, rapid, and reliable, with good extraction efficiencies for the detection of antibiotics in water samples.