Solid-phase extraction of estrogen hormones from environmental water samples onto chemically modified carbon cryogel

Abstract In this study, pristine and chemically treated carbon cryogel (CC) was employed as a solid-phase extraction (SPE) adsorbent for the isolation and enrichment of estrogens from water samples. A novel, sensitive, selective, and cost-effective analytical method for the determination of estrone, 17β-estradiol, and 17α-ethinylestradiol, based on solid-phase extraction coupled with liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS), was developed and validated. The SPE procedure was optimized by selecting the appropriate adsorbent mass, the sample volume, the sample pH, and the type and volume of elution solvent. The influence of the chemical treatment of carbon cryogel on extraction efficiency was also studied, and it was shown that HNO3 treatment led to a slight increase in recovery values over untreated CC. High recovery values (82–95%) obtained by the optimized extraction method were comparable with the recoveries obtained by commercial cartridges. Finally, the optimized method was successfully applied to the analysis of selected hormones in groundwater, surface water, and wastewater samples. The matrix effect of all tested water types was negligible, indicating the high adsorbent selectivity of examined materials toward observed hormones.