Evaluation of a porous imine-based covalent organic framework for solid-phase extraction of nitroimidazoles

Covalent organic framework materials (COFs), a kind of porous organic material, have excellent potential application in the field of sample pretreatment due to their high surface areas and thermal stability. In this work, a porous imine-based COF, named BP-COF, was fabricated by a solvothermal method using 2,2'-bipyridine-5,5'-dicarboxaldehyde and 1,3,5-tris(4-aminophenyl) benzene as monomers. After a series of structural characterization studies, the BP-COF was used as a solid-phase extraction (SPE) adsorbent for the extraction and enrichment of nitroimidazoles and their metabolites. Several parameters were investigated during the extraction process, including the sorbent dosage, loading pH value, the washing and elution solvent, and the breakthrough volume. By coupling with UPLC-QTOF-MS/MS, a sensitive and facile method was established for the quantitation analysis of NDZs. Under the optimum conditions, a low detection limit (0.015-0.12 ng mL-1) and wide linearity (0.2-500 ng mL-1) with higher R2 were obtained. In addition, the developed method was applied for the determination of NDZs in four water samples with recoveries in the range of 71.7-115.9% and RSDs less than 8.3%. The results indicated that the BP-COF shows great potential for the enrichment of NDZs in water samples.