Solid-phase microextraction using a β-ketoenamine-linked covalent organic framework coating for efficient enrichment of synthetic musks in water samples

Abstract

Covalent organic frameworks with tunable porous crystallinity and outstanding stability have recently exhibited fascinating pretreatment performance as solid-phase microextraction coatings. In this report, a β-ketoenamine-linked covalent organic framework (TpPa-1) was successfully constructed through a Schiff-base-type reaction between 1,3,5-triformylphloroglucinol (Tp) and para-phenylenediamine (Pa-1). A TpPa-1 coating was then fabricated on a stainless-steel fiber for capturing trace synthetic musks. This TpPa-1 coating exhibited strong interaction with synthetic musks because of its hydrophobicity and π–π affinity. This TpPa-1-based solid-phase microextraction methodology, coupled with gas chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry, provided high enrichment factors (1214–12 487), wide linearity (0.5–1000 ng L⁻¹), low limits of detection (0.04–0.31 ng L⁻¹), and acceptable reproducibility (relative standard deviation, <10%) for nine synthetic musks. Recoveries at three spiked levels in three types of water samples were between 76.2% and 118.7%. These results indicated the promising applicability of the TpPa-1 as a solid-phase microextraction fiber coating for reliably detecting trace concentrations of synthetic musks in the environment.