A cloud point extraction (CPE) process using non-ionic surfactant (DC193C) to extract selected paraben compounds from water samples was investigated using reversed phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC). The CPE process with the presence of β-cyclodextrin (βCD) functionalized ionic liquid as a modifier (CPE-DC193C-βCD-IL) is a new extraction technique that has been applied on the optimization of parameters, i.e., pH, βCD-IL concentration and phase volume ratio. This CPE-DC193C-βCD-IL method is facilitated at 30 °C, showing great losses of water content in the surfactant-rich phase, resulting in a high pre-concentration factor and high distribution coefficient. The developed method CPE-DC193C-βCD-IL did show enhanced properties compared to the CPE method without the modifier (CPE-DC193C). The developed method of CPE-DC193C-βCD-IL gives an excellent performance on the detection of parabens from water samples with the limit of detection falling in the range of 0.013-0.038 µg mL-1. Finally, the inclusion complex formation, hydrogen bonding, and π-π interaction between the βCD-IL, benzyl paraben (ArP), and DC 193C were proven using 1H NMR and 2D NOESY spectroscopy.
Cloud point extraction (CPE) is a separation and preconcentration of non-ionic surfactant from one liquid phase to another. In this study, Sylgard 309 and three different types of additives for CPE, namely CPE-Sylgard, CPE-Sylgard-BMIMBr and CPE-Sylgard-GLDA, are investigated to extract methylphenol from water samples. The methylphenols are well separated by reversed-phase high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with isocratic elution of acetonitrile : water; 60 : 40 (v/v) and detection at 260 nm. The optimized parameters for the effect of salt, surfactant, temperature, time of extraction, pH, interference study and the performance of different additives on methylphenol extraction are investigated. CPE-Sylgard-GLDA is chosen because it gives us a high peak and good peak area compared with CPE-Sylgard and CPE-Sylgard-BMIMBr. The recovery extractions of CPE-Sylgard-GLDA are obtained in the range of 80-99% as the percentage of relative standard deviation (RSD) is less than 10. The LOD and LOQ are 0.05 ppm and 0.18 ppm, respectively. The method developed for CPE-Sylgard-GLDA coupled with HPLC is feasible for the determination of methylphenol because it is simple, effective, cheap, and produces a high percentage of recovery.