Magnetic conjugated microporous polymer for rapid extraction and sensitive analysis of environmental endocrine disruptors in environmental waters and dairy products.

BACKGROUND: Environmental endocrine disruptors (EEDs) are a class of new pollutants that are diffusely used in the medical industry and animal husbandry. In view of toxicity concerns, elevated levels of EEDs in the environment and food, which cause potential harm to human beings and ecosystems, must be monitored. Determination of EEDs contaminants to ensure environment and food safety has became a major concern worldwide, it is also a challenging task because of their trace level and probable matrices interference. Thus, developing rapid adsorption and efficient analysis methods for EEDs is apparently necessary. RESULTS: A magnetic conjugated micro-porous polymer (Fe3O4@TbDt) was designed and synthesized, which was endowed with large specific surface area, rich functional groups and magnetic responsiveness. The material showed high extraction efficiency for EEDs via magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE). The quantum chemistry calculations showed the adsorption mechanism of Fe3O4@TbDt on EEDs mainly included electrostatic interactions, van der waals forces (N-H … π interaction, C-H … π interaction), and multiple hydrogen bonds. Finally, a trace analysis method for nine EEDs was established combined with HPLC-MS/MS under optimized MSPE conditions. The method showed a good linearity (R2 ≥ 0.996), low limits of detection (0.25-5.1 ng L-1), high precision (RSD of 1.1-8.2 %, n = 6). The applicability of this method was investigated by analyzing four water samples and two dairy products, and satisfactory recovery rates (82.1-100.7 %) were obtained. The proposed method showed the potential for the analysis of EEDs residues in food and environmental samples. SIGNIFICANCE: The developed MSPE method based on conjugated micro-porous polymers (CMPs) is simple, green, and efficient compared to existing techniques. The application of CMPs provides a new idea for preparing versatile sample pre-treatment materials. What's more, this work has certain reference value for addressing of EEDs residues in the environment and food.

Room-temperature synthesis of nitrogen-rich conjugated microporous polymers for solid-phase extraction of trace synthetic musks.

This study synthesized a conjugated microporous polymer (CMP) at room temperature, which has high surface area, large conjugate system, and nitrogen-rich features. The material was explored as a solid-phase extraction (SPE) column, and it showed a higher extraction efficiency for nitro-musks compared to most commercial columns. Under optimal SPE conditions, a sensitive and efficient method for determining five nitro-musks was established based on gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). The method showed excellent linearity (R2 ≥ 0.996), low limits of detection (0.13-0.57 ng·L-1), good repeatability (1.1-4.0 %, n = 6) and was applied to the detection of trace nitro-musks in water and milk samples. The mechanism was further discussed combined with a simulation calculation. The advantages of the proposed method were mainly reflected in the extraction efficiency and sensitivity, which also indicated the potential of CMPs as a sample pretreatment material.