We report on a combination of magnetic solid-phase extraction and spectrophotometric determination of bromate. Cetyltrimethylammonium ion was adsorbed on the surface of phenyl-functionalized silica-coated Fe3O4 nanoparticles (Ph-SiO2@Fe3O4), and these materials served as the sorbent. The effects of surfactant and amount of sorbent, the composition of the desorption solution, the extraction time and temperature were optimized. Under optimized conditions, an enrichment factor of 12 was achieved, and the relative standard deviation is 2.9 % (for n = 5). The calibration plot covers the 1–50 ng mL−1 range with reasonable linearity (r 2 > 0.998); and the limit of detection is 0.5 ng mL−1. The method is not interfered by ionic compounds commonly found in environmental water samples. It was successfully applied to the determination of bromate in spiked water samples.
