Innovative sol-gel titania and silica-based membranes for fabric phase sorptive extraction of sulfonamides in environmental samples

Pharmaceutical pollutants in water, such as sulfonamide antibiotics, have emerged as a significant environmental concern due to their widespread occurrence and persistence in aquatic ecosystems. These contaminants pose risks to aquatic organisms, contribute to the development of antimicrobial resistance, and can accumulate in drinking water sources. Therefore, their effective removal is essential for protecting ecosystem health and public safety. This study aimed to develop and evaluate sol-gel Titania-Polytetrahydrofuran (sol-gel Ti-PTHF) and sol-gel Silica-Carbowax 20 M (sol-gel Si-CW 20 M) membranes for the simultaneous fabric phase sorptive extraction (FPSE) of sulfonamide antibiotic residues from water. High-performance liquid chromatography coupled with a diode array detector (HPLC-DAD) was used for quantification. Critical extraction parameters were optimised using experimental design approaches, including fractional factorial and central composite designs. Under optimised conditions, the sol-gel Ti-PTHF and sol-gel Si-CW 20 M membranes demonstrated wide linear ranges of 0.87–900 μg/L and 0.53–900 μg/L, with low limits of detection ranging from 0.26 to 0.49 μg/L and 0.16–0.46 μg/L in various water matrices, respectively. The method achieved high percentage recoveries between 81.0 % and 99.1 %. Overall, the developed FPSE method proved highly effective for extracting sulfonamides using these sol-gel sorbent membranes, demonstrating its strong potential for monitoring sulfonamide pollutants in environmental waters and its applicability in various water treatment contexts.