Carbon nanotubes as SPE sorbents for the extraction of salicylic acid from river water.

This paper deals with the ability of different types of carbon nanotubes to adsorb salicylic acid in river water samples. The use of these nanoparticles as a sorbent in a SPE procedure prior to CE analysis is essential for improving the enrichment factor and the recovery values. Several experimental variables were optimized in order to maximize the extraction efficiency. The proposed analytical method is simple, fast, and entails low solvent consumption. Furthermore, salicylic acid could be extracted from river water providing good recovery values in the range from 76.2 to 102.0% (RSD<8.2%). The combination of the specific chemical properties of analyte and the unique physicochemical features of carbon nanotubes sheds new light on the use of these nanoparticles as excellent sorbent materials of pharmaceutical compounds in environmental matrices.