Electrically assisted solid-phase microextraction combined with liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry for determination of parathion in water

A novel method for electrically assisted microextraction coupled to liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry was evaluated for determination of trace levels of parathion in water. A pencil lead electrode was used in a di-electrode system to extract parathion onto the electrode surface with a reductive potential applied. The optimum extraction conditions were found to be a potential of −600 mV for 60 s in pH 2 phosphate buffer solution. The parathion was desorbed statically for 1 min and dynamically for 3 min in the commercial SPME–HPLC desorption chamber, then analyzed with LC–APCI–MS/MS. The detection limit (LOD) for parathion in water was found to be 0.3 ng/mL. The proposed technique was demonstrated to be fast, sensitive and not require a solvent sample pretreatment.