Preparation of Amphiphilic Solid Phase Extraction Material and Its Application in Aqueous Steroid Hormones Extraction

Abstract The steroid hormones have attracted increasing attentions in aquatic environment because of their endocrine disrupting effects at trace concentrations. In this work, amphiphilic solid phase extraction material of divinylbenzene‐ N‐vinyl‐2 ‐pyrrolidinone polymer microsphere was synthesized by free radical polymerization. The adsorption of 4 steroid hormones in aqueous solution by prepared amphiphilic microsphere was determined by high‐performance liquid chromatography‐tandem mass spectrometry method. When methyl cellulose and sodium dodecyl sulfonate were used as dispersants, 2,2’‐azobis ( 2‐ methylpropionitrile) was used as initiator, the amphiphilic microsphere was successfully prepared at 80 °C for 6 h. The amphiphilic microsphere has high specific surface area of 774 m 2 g −1 with uniform particle size, which is comparable to the commercial solid phase extraction fillers. The amphiphilic microsphere has been successfully applied to the enrichment and detection of 4 steroid hormones ( 17α ‐hydroxyprogesterone, metandienone, norethindrone and boldenone) in natural water. The recoveries of 4 steroid hormones ranged from 83.7 % to 114 %, and the limit of detection were in the range of 0.70–13.5 ng L −1 .