Separations 2023, 10, 334. https://doi.org/10.3390/separations10060334 www.mdpi.com/journal/separations
Article
Multivariate Simultaneous Determination of Some PAHs in
Persian Gulf Oil-Contaminated Algae and Water Samples
Using Miniaturized Triton X-100-Mediated Fe3O4
Nanoadsorbent and UV-Vis Detection
Maryam Abbasi Tarighat 1,*, Ameneh Behroozi 1, Gholamreza Abdi 2 and Charalampos Proestos 3,*
1 Faculty of Nano and Bio Science and Technology, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr 75169, Iran
2 Department of Biotechnology, Persian Gulf Research Institute, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr 75169, Iran
3 Laboratory of Food Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens,
Zografou, 157 84 Athens, Greece
* Correspondence: matarighat@pgu.ac.ir (M.A.T.); harpro@chem.uoa.gr (C.P.)
Abstract: This research shows the development of a miniaturized solid-phase extraction method
with UV-Vis detection for simultaneous determination of dibenzofuran, fluoranthene and phenan-
threne using chemometrics approaches. After synthesis of Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Fe3O4 NPs), the sur-
face of the nanoparticles was modified by Triton X100 coating. The influence of extraction solvent
and volume, concentration of Triton X100, extraction time, and sample pH were studied and opti-
mized. Due to high spectral overlapping, resolving ternary mixtures for simultaneous determina-
tion of targets with classical analytical methods is impossible. Therefore, the recorded UV-vis spec-
tra were transformed using continuous wavelet transform and then subjected to artificial neural
networks (ANNs). The Db4 mother wavelet was used as the better mother wavelet. For simultane-
ous detection of analytes, a comparison of feed-forward back-propagation and radial basis function
networks was accomplished. The calibration graphs showed linearity in the ranges of 2.4-250 ng
mL-1, 50-3750 ng mL-1, and 48-5000 ng mL-1 with a limit of detection of 0.58, 9.5 ng mL-1, and 12.5
ng mL-1 under optimal
