Optimization of the Microwave-Assisted Saponification and Extraction of Organic Pollutants from Marine Biota Using Experimental Design and Artificial Neural Networks

摘要

Several improvements in sample pretreatment for the determination of organic pollutants (i.e. n-alkanes, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, PAHs) in marine biota (mussels) are presented. The use of liquid nitrogen and homogenization of the samples are shown to be an alternative to the time consuming liophilization step required for the analysis of biota samples. Microwave-assisted hydrolysis and extraction are combined to isolate organic pollutants (19 n-alkanes and 27 PAHs) from biota matrices. Experimental design (ED) and artificial neural networks (ANNs) were used to optimize the experimental conditions. NIST-CRM 2978 was used to test the validity of the developed method which shows a good agreement with certified values.