Dendrimer-reinforced sol-gel based hollow fiber solid-phase microextraction for citalopram determination using response surface methodology

The inclusion of a polyamidoamine dendrimer in a silica sol-gel yielded a solid nanosorbent that was used for the preconcentration, extraction, and determination of citalopram in hospital waste water, hemodialysis solution, and some drinking water. The method was developed by applying a novel nanosorbent for the solid-phase microextraction of citalopram, containing a silica sol-gel reinforced by polyamidoamine second-generation dendrimer, which was protected by a polypropylene hollow fiber. Plackett-Burman design and central composite design were utilized to evaluate the significance of several factors on the extraction efficiency. The adsorption mechanism and thermodynamic and kinetic aspects were studied. The adsorption process was exothermic and well fitted to the Bangham equation kinetic model. Under optimal conditions, the presented method was liner in the range of 0.05-100 μg/mL. The limits of detection of quantification of citalopram were 0.0095 and 0.031 μg m/L, respectively.