Supramolecular phenylboronic acid@CD-MOFs: Enrichment integrated derivatization strategy for diols-containing short-chain aliphatic compounds

This work explores an enrichment integrated derivatization strategy for diols-containing short-chain aliphatic compounds (DSCAs) by using cyclodextrin (CD)-metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) as adsorbents. For this purpose, α-, β-, γ-CD-MOFs with different sizes of hydrophobic cavities were prepared and their encapsulation ability towards polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, especially phenylboronic acid (PBA), was investigated. It is found that the formed supramolecular adsorbents PBA@CD-MOFs can simultaneously perform the enrichment and derivatization of DSCAs in organic solution, simplifying the sample pre-treatment procedure of the DSCAs. Finally, an analytical method based on solid-phase extraction combined with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was established for the detection of 3-monochloropropane-1,2-diol (3-MCPD) in canned samples. The relative recoveries of three analytes are 82.4 to 87.5 %, the intra- and inter-day relative standard deviations (RSDs) are less than 10.9 %, and the limits of detection (LODs) are 0.934–2.77 ng∙g−1. In conclusion, the enrichment integrated derivatization strategy can be used as an alternative to the traditional sample pretreatment method, which usually requires enrichment, elution and derivatization for the detection of DSCAs in various food samples.