Extraction of Sulfachloropyridazine from Food Samples Using Cellulose: Application of Central Composite Design Approach

Sulfonamide antibiotics are among the most widely used veterinary drugs in livestock and often end up contaminating milk, which is subsequently consumed by humans. To mitigate this health hazard, cellulose and its functionalized derivatives were investigated for their ability to extract sulfonamides from milk and honey. The approach used a biodegradable sorbent (cellulose modified with oxalic and adipic acids) and a green solvent system (ATPE, which reduces the usage of harmful organic solvents) to improve sorbent-analyte interactions and extraction efficiency. In comparison to traditional extraction procedures, the suggested method provided a simpler, more cost-effective, and environmentally friendly method for analysing sulfonamides in complex food matrices. To improve adsorption, cellulose was functionalized with oxalic and adipic acids. The resulting sorbents were then characterised using Fourier-transform infrared, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller and scanning electron microscope techniques. Batch adsorption experiments using a central composite design approach were conducted using sulfachloropyridazine to evaluate the adsorption efficiency of cellulose and its functionalized derivatives at varying temperature, time and mass of sorbent. The optimal conditions for the adsorption of sulfachloropyridazine using cellulose, adipic acid functionalized cellulose (cell@AA) and oxalic acid functionalized cellulose (cell@OA) yielded 53%, 57% and 52% extraction, respectively. The optimal conditions for the adsorption of sulfachloropyridazine for temperature, time and mass were 75°C, 180 min and 50 mg for cellulose, 60°C, 180 min and 5 mg for cell@OA, and 75°C, 30 min and 5 mg for cell@AA, respectively. Application studies revealed that the extraction percentages of sulfachloropyridazine from milk using cellulose, cell@OA and cell@AA were 57%, 86% and 68%, respectively. Therefore, the functionalization of cellulose with adipic and oxalic acids proved to influence the adsorption of Sulfachloropyridazine when compared to cellulose.