Application of mesoporous carbon as a solid-phase microextraction fiber coating for the extraction of volatile aromatic compounds

A mesoporous carbon was fabricated using MCM-41 as a template and sucrose as a carbon source. The carbon material was coated on stainless-steel wires by using the sol-gel technique. The prepared solid-phase microextraction fiber was used for the extraction of five volatile aromatic compounds (chlorobenzene, ethylbenzene, o-xylene, bromobenzene, and 4-chlorotoluene) from tea beverage samples (red tea and green tea) prior to gas chromatography with mass spectrometric detection. The main experimental parameters affecting the extraction of the volatile aromatic compounds by the fiber, including the extraction time, sample volume, extraction temperature, salt addition, and desorption conditions, were investigated. The linearity was observed in the range from 0.1 to 10.0 mu g/L with the correlation coefficients (r) ranging from 0.9923 to 0.9982 and the limits of detection were less than 10.0 ng/L. The recoveries of the volatile aromatic compounds by the method from tea beverage samples at spiking levels of 1.0 and 10.0 mu g/L ranged from 73.1 to 99.1%.