Applicability and Limitations of a Capillary-LC Column-Switching System Using Hybrid Graphene-Based Stationary Phases

Graphene oxide sheets fixed over silica particles (SiGO) and their modification functionalized with C18 and endcapped (SiGO-C18ec) have been reported as sorbents for extraction and analytical columns in LC. In this study, a SiGO column was selected as the extraction column and a SiGO-C18ec as the analytical column to study the applicability and limitations of a column-switching system composed exclusively of columns packed with graphene-based sorbents. Pyriproxyfen and abamectin B1a were selected as the analytes, and orange-flavored carbonated soft drinks as the matrix. The proposed system could be successfully applied to the pyriproxyfen analysis in a concentration range between 0.5 to 25 µg/mL presenting a linearity of R² = 0.9931 and an intra-day and inter-day accuracy of 82.2–111.4% (RSD < 13.3%) and 95.5–99.8% (RSD < 12.7%), respectively. Furthermore, the matrix composition affected the area observed for the pyriproxyfen: the higher the concentration of orange juice in the soft drink, the higher the pyriproxyfen the signal observed. Additionally, the SiGO extraction column presented a life use of 120 injections for this matrix. In contrast, the proposed system could not apply to the analysis of abamectin B1a, and the SiGO-C18ec analytical column presented significant tailing compared to a similar approach with a C18 analytical column.