Polymer-coated hollow-fiber microextraction of estrogens in water samples with analysis by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

A novel sorbent, dihydroxylated polymethylmethacrylate (DHPMM), coated on hollow-fiber membrane, is used for the polymer-coated hollow-fiber microextraction of trace amounts of natural and synthetic estrogens, such as diethylstilbestrol, estrone, 17β-estradiol and 17α-ethynylestradiol, in aqueous samples. In this procedure, estrogens were extracted using the functionalized polar DHPMM polymer with derivatization using N-methyl-N-(trimethylsilyl)trifluoroacetamide followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometric analysis. The detection limits for estrogens in aqueous sample were between 0.03 and 0.8 ng l−1 and the calibration curves were linear over the concentration range 0.05–10 μg l−1 and had correlation coefficients of >0.994. The relative standard deviations (RSDs) were <15% (n = 3). This simple, accurate, sensitive and selective analytical method is applicable to the determination of trace amounts of estrogens in reservoir and potable water samples.