Ionic liquid-mediated bis[(3-methyldimethoxysilyl)propyl] polypropylene oxide-based polar sol–gel coatings for capillary microextraction

Two ionic liquids (IL), namely, 1-methyl-3-octylimidazolium chloride (MOIC) and trihexyltetradecylphosphonium tetrafluoroborate (TTPT) were used to prepare polar and nonpolar sol–gel coatings for capillary microextraction (CME). Bis[(3-methyldimethoxysilyl)propyl] polypropylene oxide (BMPO), containing sol–gel active terminal methoxysilyl groups and polar propylene oxide repeating units, was used to prepare polar sol–gel hybrid organic–inorganic coatings. Hydroxy-terminated poly(dimethyl-co-diphenylsiloxane) was used as the sol–gel active organic component for nonpolar sol–gel hybrid coatings. Compared to a sol–gel BMPO coating prepared without IL, the sol–gel BMPO coatings prepared with the use of both of these ILs provided more efficient extraction as is evidenced by more pronounced GC peak areas. The MOIC-mediated sol–gel BMPO coating provided larger GC peak areas compared to the TTPT-mediated sol–gel BMPO coating. Scanning electron microscopy results suggested that MOIC provided a more porous morphology of the sol–gel BMPO extraction media compared to that prepared with TTPT. Thus, individual ILs can affect the porosity of sol–gel materials to different degrees. Overall, the sol–gel BMPO coating prepared with the ILs could extract nonpolar to polar analytes directly from aqueous samples. Detection limits were on the order of nanograms per liter (1.9–330.5 ng/L) depending on the analyte class. Furthermore, the MOIC-mediated sol–gel BMPO coating demonstrated high thermal stability (330 °C), solvent resistance, and fast extraction equilibrium (10–15 min) for polar and moderately polar analytes.