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The current routes to couple dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction with capillary electrophoresis are the evaporation of water immiscible extractants and the back-extraction of analytes. In this study, a new methodology for this combination using water-in-oil microemulsion electrokinetic chromatography coupled with normal stacking mode on-line sample concentration was developed to analyze chlorophenols in water samples. The analytes were extracted with tributyl phosphate and the extractant dilution (3×) was directly injected into an electrophoresis buffer (7.7 cm) containing 5% sodium dodecyl sulfate, 78% 1-butanol, 2% 1-heptane, and 15% sodium acetate solution (pH 8.0). This proposed method is very simple and convenient compared to the conventional procedures. The key parameters affecting separation and concentration were systematically optimized. Under the optimized conditions, dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction contributed an enrichment factor of 45-50, and the overall sensitivity improvement was 312-418-fold. Limits of detection between 1.4 and 3.0 ng/mL and limits of quantification between 4.5 and 10.2 ng/mL were achieved. Acceptable repeatability lower than 3.0% for migration time and 9.0% for peak areas were obtained. The developed method was successfully applied for analysis of the chlorophenols in real water samples. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Acetonitrile stacking is an online concentration method that is distinctive due to its inclusion of a high proportion of organic solvent in sample matrices. We previously designed a universal methodology for the combination of liquid-phase microextraction (LPME) and capillary electrophoresis (CE) using acetonitrile stacking and micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC) mode, thereby achieving large-volume injection of the diluted LPME extractant and the online concentration. In this report, the methodology was extended to the analysis of highly substituted hydrophobic chlorophenols in wines using diethyl carbonate as the extractant. Additionally, the mechanism of acetonitrile stacking was studied. The results indicated that the combination of LPME and MEKC exhibited good analytical performance: with ∼40-fold concentration by LPME, a 20-cm (33% of the total length) sample plug injection of an eight-fold dilution of diethyl carbonate with the organic solvent-saline solution produced enrichments higher by a factor of 260–791. Limits of qualification ranged from 5.5 to 16.0 ng/mL. Acceptable reproducibilities of lower than 1.8% for migration time and 8.6% for peak areas were obtained. A dual stacking mechanism of acetonitrile stacking was revealed, involving transient isotachophoresis plus pH-junction stacking. The latter was associated with a pH shift induced by the presence of acetonitrile. The pseudo-stationary phase (Brij-35) played an important role in reducing the CE running time by weakening the isotachophoretic migration of the analyte ions following Cl − ions. The combination of acetonitrile stacking and nonionic micelle-based MEKC appears to be a perfect match for introducing water-immiscible LPME extractants into an aqueous CE system and can thus significantly expand the application of LPME-CE in green analytical chemistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]