This paper reports a dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction based on a novel hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent
(HDES) for the extraction of aromatic amines (aniline, 4-methoxyanniline, 4,4′ -diaminodiphenyl, orthotoluidine,
2,6-dimethylaniline, 2-naphtylamine) in simulant of colored kitchenware samples before their high-performance
liquid chromatography determination. The HDES was prepared by mixing bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphoric acid
(BEHPA) as hydrogen bond acceptor and thymol as hydrogen bond donor. Affecting factors on the extraction of
the aromatic amines were investigated and optimized. Under optimum conditions, the developed method showed
a wide linear range of 1.0–200 μg L 1 (R2 ≥ 0.99) with satisfactory recoveries (≥90.0%). The empirical limit of
detections (LODs) were in the range of 1.5–3.0 μg L 1. The method LOQ was 5.0 μg L 1. The enrichment factors
were in the range of 170–190. The intra-day (n = 6) and inter-day (n = 3) precisions at concentration levels of 5,
50 and 200 μg L 1 were ≤ 8.1%. Based on obtained results, the proposed method is very simple, efficient,
sensitive, and eco-friendly for the extraction and determination of aromatic amines in simulant of colored
kitchenware samples.