Synthesis of amphiphilic magnetic nanoparticles for highly efficient enrichment of steroid hormones in aquatic environment

Abstract

The steroid hormones in the aquatic environment have attracted widespread attentions due to their harmful effects to organisms. In order to improve the sensitivity and accuracy of steroid hormone detection, amphiphilic magnetic nanoparticles (AMNPs) were prepared through suspension copolymerization for microSPE of steroid hormones in water. The divinylbenzene and N-vinylpyrrolidone were selected as modified monomers, and Fe₃O₄ as the magnetic core. The FT-IR and SEM analyses showed that amphiphilic modified polymers were successfully coated on the surface of Fe₃O₄ magnetic beads. The hysteresis loop showed that the saturation magnetization value of obtained AMNPs was 36 emu·g⁻¹. In the adsorption test, the adsorption rate of nine steroid hormones by AMNPs can reach more than 90%. Based on this, an AMNPs-microSPE coupled with HPLC-MS/MS method was established to detect steroid hormones in the aquatic environment. The detection limit and quantitation limit of this analytical method was 0.01–0.72 μg·L⁻¹ and 0.10–2.4 μg·L⁻¹ respectively, with good linear fit and low relative standard deviation. The prepared AMNPs extraction materials show good recovery and reproducibility for steroid hormones in water, and have the advantages of low price, easy availability and reusable.