RESEARCH PAPER New environmentally friendly MSPD solid support based on golden mussel shell: characterization and application for extraction of organic contaminants from mussel tissue Caroline Rombaldi 1 & Jean Lucas de Oliveira Arias 1 & Gabriel Ianzer Hertzog 1 & Sergiane Souza Caldas 1 & João P. Vieira 2 & Ednei Gilberto Primel 1 Received: 6 February 2015 /Revised: 26 March 2015 /Accepted: 8 April 2015 /Published online: 30 April 2015 # Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2015 Abstract The use of golden mussel shells as a solid sup- port in vortex-assisted matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) was evaluated for the first time for extraction of residues of 11 pesticides and nine pharmaceutical and per- sonal care products from mussel tissue samples. After they had been washed, dried, and milled, the mussel shells were characterized by scanning electron microscopy, energy- dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, infrared spectroscopy, and Brunauer—Emmett–Teller analysis. The MSPD procedure with analysis by liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry allowed the determination of target analytes at trace concentrations (nanograms per gram), with mean recoveries ranging from 61 to 107 % and relative standard deviations lower than 18 %. The optimized method consisted of dispersion of 0.5 g of mussel tissue, 0.5 g of NaSO 4 , and 0.5 g of golden mussel shell for 5 min, and subsequent extraction with 5 mL of ethyl acetate. The ma- trix effect was evaluated, and a low effect was found for all compounds. The results showed that mussel shell is an effective material and a less expensive material than mate- rials that have traditionally been used, i.e., it may be used in the MSPD dispersion step during the extraction of pes- ticides and pharmaceutical and personal care products from golden mussel tissues. Keywords Vortex-assisted matrix solid-phase dispersion . Mussel shell . Solid support . Pesticides . Pharmaceutical and personal care products Introduction Matrix solid-phase dispersion (MSPD) is a fast and robust technique which is based on the dispersal of the sample with an appropriate solid and abrasive support with consecutive elution of the analytes [1]. The technique has been used for the extraction of organic contaminants in solid matrices such as sediment, food, and biological samples [2–5]. More specifically with regard to biological samples, solid supports such as C 18 [6], Florisil [7], and alumina [8] have been used. Although these materials have shown good results, they are usually expensive and synthetically produced. Alternative materials which are cheaper and environmen- tally friendlier than traditional materials have been little ex- plored in MSPD [9]. Some studies used sand and diatoma- ceous earth as dispersers, and these were shown to be inter- esting alternatives with effectiveness similar to that of the commercial materials [3, 10, 11]. In this context, mussel shells seem to be an interesting option, since they generally contain 95 % calcium carbonate and 5 % organic materials such as glycoproteins, polysaccha- rides, glycosaminoglycan, chitin, and other proteins [12]. These components give the shell its abrasive and solid support properties [13]. Besides, the use of low-cost solid supports such as shell wastes that can be easily obtained in large quan- tities seems to be a good alternative [14]. Furthermore, mussel shells are recognized as a worldwide environmental problem since they reduce the liming value and render waste difficult to recycle [13, 14]. * Ednei Gilberto Primel dqmednei@furg.br 1 Escola de Química e Alimentos, Laboratório de Análise de Compostos Orgânicos e Metais (LACOM), Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Av Itália, km 8, Rio Grande, RS 96203-900, Brazil 2 Instituto de Oceanografia, Universidade Federal do Rio Grande, Av Itália, km 8, Rio Grande, RS 96203-900, Brazil Anal Bioanal Chem (2015) 407:4805–4814 DOI 10.1007/s00216-015-8686-2