**Silica Modified with Polyaniline as a Potential Sorbent for Matrix Solid Phase Dispersion (MSPD) and Dispersive Solid Phase Extraction (d-SPE) of Plant Samples**

**Ireneusz Sowa 1,\*, Magdalena Wójciak-Kosior 1,\*, Maciej Strzemski 1, Jan Sawicki 1, Michał Staniak 1, Sławomir Dresler 2, Wojciech Szwerc 1, Jarosław Mołdoch 1,3 and Michał Latalski 4**


Received: 1 March 2018; Accepted: 19 March 2018; Published: 22 March 2018

**Abstract:** Polyaniline (PANI) is one of the best known conductive polymers with multiple applications. Recently, it was also used in separation techniques, mostly as a component of composites for solid-phase microextraction (SPME). In the present paper, sorbent obtained by in situ polymerization of aniline directly on silica gel particles (Si-PANI) was used for dispersive solid phase extraction (d-SPE) and matrix solid–phase extraction (MSPD). The efficiency of both techniques was evaluated with the use of high performance liquid chromatography with diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) quantitative analysis. The quality of the sorbent was verified by Raman spectroscopy and microscopy combined with automated procedure using computer image analysis. For extraction experiments, triterpenes were chosen as model compounds. The optimal conditions were as follows: protonated Si-PANI impregnated with water, 160/1 sorbent/analyte ratio, 3 min of extraction time, 4 min of desorption time and methanolic solution of ammonia for elution of analytes. The proposed procedure was successfully used for pretreatment of plant samples.

**Keywords:** polyaniline; Si-PANI; d-SPE; MSPD; triterpenes; sample pretreatment
