Determination of formaldehyde in beverages using microwave-assisted derivatization and ionic liquid-based dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography

A simple method based on simultaneous microwave-assisted derivatization and ionic liquid-based dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (IL-based DLLME) is proposed for the derivatization, extraction and preconcentration of formaldehyde in beverage samples prior to the determination by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Formaldehyde was in situ derivatized with 2,4-dinitrophenylhydrazine (DNPH) and simultaneously extracted and preconcentrated by using microwave-assisted derivatization and IL-based DLLME in a single step. Several experimental parameters, including type and volume of extraction solvent, type and volume of disperser, microwave power and irradiation time, volume of DNPH, pH of sample solution, and ionic strength were evaluated. When the microwave power was 120 W, formaldehyde could be derivatized and extracted simultaneously only within 90 s. Under optimal experimental conditions, good linearity was observed in the range of 0.5–50 ng/mL with the correlation coefficient of 0.9965, and the limit of detection was 0.12 ng/mL. The proposed method was applied to the analysis of different beverage samples, and the recoveries of formaldehyde obtained were in the range of 84.9–95.1% with the relative standard deviations lower than 8.4%. The results showed that the proposed method was a rapid, convenient and feasible method for the determination of formaldehyde in beverage samples.