مشخصات پژوهش

Styrene-maleic anhydride (SMA) copolymer is a commercial industrial polymer which is cheaper than any other polymers possessing reactive group in the main chain or side chain for further functionalization [1, 2]. In this work, Fe3O4 magnetic nano-particles were firstly synthesized and their surfaces were modified with 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). Then, styrene-maleic anhydride copolymer was synthesized by free radical polymerization of styrene and maleic anhydride, and after grafting with 3-aminbenzoic acid, the modified copolymer was reacted with amine terminated Fe3O4 NPs to prepare magnetic nanocomposite (MNC). After characterization of the synthesized MNC by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, field emission scanning electron microscopy and X-ray diffraction, the obtained material was applied as a novel nano-sorbent for selective extraction and preconcentration of atenolol prior to its determination by spectrofluorometry. This prepared nano-hybrid possesses the magnetism property of Fe3O4 nano-particles that makes it easily manipulated by an external magnetic field. On the other hand, the surface modification of SMA by APTES leads to selective separation of the target analyte from sample matrices. The experimental factors affecting the extraction/pre-concentration and determination of the analyte were investigated and optimized. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the calibration graph was linear in the range between 0.10 and 60 ng mL−1, with a correlation coefficient of 0.9989. The limits of detection and enrichment factor for atenolol were 0.32 ng mL−1 and 100 ng mL−1, respectively. The maximum sorption capacity of the adsorbent for atenolol was 96.7 mg g−1. The method was successfully applied to monitoring atenolol in human serum and pharmaceutical wastewater samples, with recoveries in the range of 96.0%- 103.0% for the spiked samples.