Combination of Liquid-phase Extraction with Dispersive Liquid-liquid Micro-extraction for the Assessment of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Honey Sample Using High-performance Liquid Chromatography

One of the frequent chemical contaminants in honey that can harm consumers' health is the group of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. In the present study, combination of liquid-phase extraction method with magnetic ionic liquids based dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction was developed to analyze polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in honey samples using high-performance liquid chromatography.

Following two-step extraction of acenaphthene, phenanthrene, anthracene and pyrene from honey samples, effective extraction parameters such as the type and volume of extracting solvent, ionic strength and vortexing time of the sample were optimized. To validate the proposed method, analytical parameters such as the linear range, limit of detection (LOD), limit of quantification (LOQ), reproducibility (RSD%) and extraction recovery percent (ER%) of the target compounds were calculated.

After using the optimized analytical method, optimal analytical characteristics such as LOD in the range of 0.13 to 0.27 ng/g, RSD% in the range of 2.9 to 6.2 and ideal ER% in the range of 74 to 82% were achieved. In addition, high accuracy of the developed method was supported by the fact that sample matrices included no detrimental effects on the extraction of the target analytics. Analysis of the real samples showed the presence of pyrene in two honey samples with quantities of 11.3 ±0.2 and 12.3 ±0.5.

The suggested approach is valid, as indicated by favorable analytical parameters such as high sensitivity and accuracy as well as an ideal ER%. Moreover, use of green solvents can be addressed as one of the advantages of the developed method.