Magnetic mesoporous polymelamine-formaldehyde resin as an adsorbent for endocrine disrupting chemicals

Preparation of novel cationic porous polymers for effective pre-concentration and sensitive detection of endocrine disruptors in water and fish

BACKGROUND

Phenolic endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs) that are widely present in water environment can mimic hormones and interfere with the endocrine system, posing a severe threat to human health. Therefore, there is an urgent need to develop sensitive methods to effectively monitor phenolic EDCs in environment water and seafood products. In this study, a novel quaternary ammonium cationic porous polymer (AC-HCP3) was synthesized and a new analytical method was established by using AC-HCP3 as solid phase extraction adsorbent in combination with high-performance liquid chromatography, achieving the sensitive and reliable detection of phenolic EDCs in fish and environmental water.

RESULTS

The developed AC-HCP3 has high stability, positive ionic feature and good recycle utilization, achieving high enrichment efficiency that is unsusceptible to pH for several EDCs, including bisphenol F, bisphenol A, bisphenol B, and p-tert-butylphenol. The high enrichment efficiency is proved to be the synergistic effects of π-π conjugation, hydrogen bonding, and electrostatic interactions. Based on AC-HCP3, a feasible and practical detection method was established and employed for determining several phenolic EDCs in fish (Basa fish and tilapia) and environmental water. The method achieved low detection limits of 1.67-7.80 ng g-1 for fish and 0.004-0.02 ng mL-1 for environmental water, with recoveries of 80.7 %-118 % and relative standard deviations ≤8.40 %. The adsorption capacity of AC-HCP3 ranged from 68.73 to 128.53 mg g-1. Compared with other reported methods, the developed method offers high sensitivity, efficiency and applicability.

SIGNIFICANCE

Herein, for the first time, we designed and synthesized a novel ionic porous polymer (AC-HCP3) through simple preparation process (one-step Friedel-Crafts alkylation reaction). The AC-HCP3 displayed an outstanding adsorption effect in harsh environments such as strong acids and alkalis. This work not only provides a feasible approach for the construction of ionic porous polymers, but also provides an alternative approach for the effective monitoring of phenolic EDCs in complex food and environmental samples.

Preparation of amino-functionalized triazine-based hyper-crosslinked polymer for efficient adsorption of endocrine disruptors

Herein, two novel amino-functionalized triazine-based hyper-crosslinked porous polymer (NH2-HCPs) (named as DPT-BB, DPT-DX) were designed and synthesized by direct crosslinking of 2,4-diamino-6-phenyl-1,3,5-triazine (DPT) with 4,4'-bis(chloromethyl)-1,1'-biphenyl (BB) or α, α'-dichloro-p-xylene (DX). Thanks to the amino functional group and hyper-crosslinked porous structure, NH2-HCPs displayed remarkable adsorption ability for phenolic EDCs. The adsorption mechanism mainly involved hydrogen bond, π-π interaction, hydrophobic interaction and pore filling. Thus DPT-BB was applied as solid phase extraction sorbent to extract phenolic EDCs from water and orange juice samples prior to quantitative analysis by high performance liquid chromatography. Under the optimal conditions, detection limit as low as 0.07-0.2 ng mL-1 for water and 0.1-0.27 ng mL-1 for orange juice was achieved. Good recoveries spanned the range of 83.5%-114% were obtained for spiked samples, with relative standard deviations below 8.9%. The results demonstrated that the developed method displayed excellent practicability for sensitive analysis of EDCs.

Synthesis of amine-functionalized magnetic porous organic polymers for effective extraction of phenolic endocrine disrupting chemicals

Amine-functionalized porous organic polymers (EDA-POP-PC and EDA-POP-BT) were prepared by post-modification of POP-PC and POP-BT with ethylenediamine (EDA) for the first time. The POP-PC and POP-BT were obtained through Friedel-Crafts acylation reaction of potassium tetraphenylborate with p-phthaloyl chloride (PC) and 1,3,5-benzenetricarbonyl trichloride (BT), respectively. The EDA-POPs exhibited superior adsorption capacity for phenolic endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs). After magnetically functionalization, the obtained M-EDA-POP-PC was employed as a magnetic adsorbent for enrichment of phenolic EDCs from real samples prior to high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection. The current strategy showed low detection limits (S/N = 3) of 0.02-0.07, 0.04-0.08 and 0.04-0.10 ng mL-1 for river water, white peach juice and lychee juice, respectively. The method recoveries were 81.7%-115% with relative standard deviations below 8.6%. The proposed strategy showed good practicality for sensitive determination of phenolic EDCs in real samples.

Construction of a magnetic covalent organic framework for magnetic solid-phase extraction of AFM1 and AFM2 in milk prior to quantification by LC-MS/MS

A magnetic covalent organic framework (M-COF) was designed and selected as sorbent for magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) of AFM1 and AFM2 in milk, followed by LC-MS/MS analysis. The application of 2,5-Dihydroxy-1,4-benzenedicarboxaldehyde (Dt) and 4',5'-bis(4-aminophenyl)-[1,1':2',1″-terphenyl]-4,4″-diamine (BAPTPDA) as monomers endows M-COF excellent properties for adsorbing AFM1 and AFM2. The morphology, structure, stability, and magnetism of the Fe₃O₄@COF(BAPTPDA-Dt) were characterized by various techniques including scanning electron microscopy, transmission electron microscopy, FTIR, thermogravimetric analysis, and vibrating sample magnetometer. The Fe₃O₄ microspheres were covered by COF shells. Fe₃O₄@COF exhibited excellent magnetism and stability. Some parameters that may influence the adsorption efficiency of MSPE were also optimized, making the extraction process more effective, time-saving (about 3 min), and less organic-reagent-consuming (only 4 mL of acetonitrile required). It is noteworthy that the Fe₃O₄@COF(BAPTPDA-Dt) can be reutilized more than 8 times. The AFM1 and AFM2 were determined by LC-MS/MS. The LODs for AFM1 and AFM2 were in the range 0.0069 to 0.0078 μg kg^-1. A wide linearity range (0.01-100 μg kg^-1) with coefficients of determination (R²) ranging from 0.9998 to 0.9999 was obtained. The recoveries at four spiked concentrations (0.05, 0.5, 5, and 50 μg kg^-1) in the milk matrix ranged from 85.2 to 106.5%. The intraday RSDs and the interday RSDs were in the range 1.74-4.58% and 2.65-6.69%, respectively. The matrix effect (9.3% for AFM1 and 6.7% for AFM2) was also significantly lower than that observed in other work . Overall, the established method has provided a powerful tool for rapid pretreatment and sensitive determination of AFM1 and AFM2 in milk with negligible matrix effect, presenting important value in toxicant determination.

Ionic Liquid Modified Porous Polymer as a Dispersive Filter Extraction Adsorbent for Simple, Sensitive, and Efficient Determination of Chlorotriazine Herbicides in Irrigation Water

Triazine herbicides (TRZHs) are widely used in agricultural production, but their improper use can threaten the environment and organisms. Herein, rapid extraction of four chlorotriazine herbicides (Cl-TRZHs) in irrigation water was achieved using an ionic liquid modified porous m-aminophenol formaldehyde resin (IL-MAPFR) as a dispersive filter extraction (DFE) adsorbent. The IL-MAPFR shows excellent adsorption performance for four Cl-TRZHs (simazine, cyanazine, atrazine, and terbuthylazine), with a large specific surface area (158.1 m² g^-1) and fast mass transfer (2 min). The adsorption process conforms to the pseudo-second-order kinetics and Freundlich isotherm models. The four Cl-TRZHs were concentrated 12-16-fold after the IL-MAPFR-DFE method. Coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography, an accurate and sensitive determination method for four Cl-TRZHs in irrigation water was established, with low detection limit (0.11-0.20 ng mL^-1), high recoveries (91.5-110%), and excellent precision (relative standard deviations (RSDs) ≤ 8.4%). This method provides technical support for agricultural irrigation water quality monitoring and has great application potential in water safety, especially pesticide residues.

Mesoporous Poly(melamine-co-formaldehyde) Particles for Efficient and Selective Phosphate and Sulfate Removal

Due to the existence-threatening risk to aquatic life and entire ecosystems, the removal of oxyanions such as sulfate and phosphate from anthropogenic wastewaters, such as municipal effluents and acid mine drainage, is inevitable. Furthermore, phosphorus is an indispensable resource for worldwide plant fertilization, which cannot be replaced by any other substance. This raises phosphate to one of the most important mineral resources worldwide. Thus, efficient recovery of phosphate is essential for ecosystems and the economy. To face the harsh acidic conditions, such as for acid mine drainage, an adsorber material with a high chemical resistivity is beneficial. Poly(melamine-co-formaldehyde) (PMF) sustains these conditions whilst its very high amount of nitrogen functionalities (up to 53.7 wt.%) act as efficient adsorption sides. To increase adsorption capacities, PMF was synthesized in the form of mesoporous particles using a hard-templating approach yielding specific surface areas up to 409 m2/g. Different amounts of silica nanospheres were utilized as template and evaluated for the adsorption of sulfate and phosphate ions. The adsorption isotherms were validated by the Langmuir model. Due to their properties, the PMF particles possessed outperforming maximum adsorption capacities of 341 and 251 mg/g for phosphate and sulfate, respectively. Furthermore, selective adsorption of sulfate from mixed solutions of phosphate and sulfate was found for silica/PMF hybrid particles.

Determination of sulfonamides in milk and egg samples by HPLC with mesoporous polymelamine-formaldehyde as magnetic solid-phase extraction adsorbent

In this work, magnetic mesoporous polymelamine-formaldehyde composites were synthesized via a facile Schiff base reaction. The magnetic mesoporous polymelamine-formaldehyde composites combined both the properties of mesoporous polymelamine-formaldehyde and the magnetism of NH₂ -SiO₂ @Fe₃ O₄ nanoparticles, possessing high specific surface area (150.66 m² g^-1 ) and good magnetism (24.50 emu g^-1 ). The magnetic mesoporous polymelamine-formaldehyde composites were employed as magnetic adsorbent for the extraction of sulfonamides. Under optimal conditions, good linearities with correlation coefficients higher than 0.9984 were obtained between peak area and sulfonamides concentration (2-200 μg L^-1 ) with limits of detection in the range of 0.33-0.58 μg L^-1 . The established method was successfully applied for the determination of sulfonamides in egg and milk samples. The adsorption mechanisms demonstrated that the adsorption of magnetic mesoporous polymelamine-formaldehyde composites toward sulfonamides was a multilayer process, and adsorption kinetics followed the pseudo-second-order model.

Determination of chloramphenicol and tetracycline residues in milk samples by means of nanofiber coated magnetic particles prior to high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection

A magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography-diode array detection (HPLC-DAD) methodology was developed for the determination of chloramphenicol (CP) and tetracycline (TET) antibiotic residues in milk samples. As a solid phase sorbent, C-nanofiber coated magnetic nanoparticles were synthesized and extensively characterized using Field Emission Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM), Raman Spectroscopy and X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD) analysis. Experimental variables of MSPE method for both antibiotic analytes were investigated and optimized systematically. After MSPE, the linear range for both the analytes (r² > 0.9954) were obtained in a range 10.0-600.0 ng mL^-1. The limit of detections (LODs) for CP and TET were 3.02 and 3.52 ng mL^-1, respectively while RSDs % were below than 4.0%. Finally, the developed method based on MPSE-HPLC-DAD was applied to real milk samples to quantify the antibiotic residues. Recovery values for each antibiotic compound were found in the range of 94.6-105.4% (n = 3) by using spiked model solution.

Electrochemical sensor based on glassy carbon electrode modified by polymelamine formaldehyde/graphene oxide nanocomposite for ultrasensitive detection of oxycodone

Polymelamine formaldehyde/graphene oxide (PMF/GO) nanocomposite was used, for the first time, to study the ultrasensitive and selective electrochemical detection of oxycodone (OXC). The successful characterization of PMF/GO was verified based on scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), energy-dispersive spectroscopy (EDS), and Raman spectroscopy. The modified GCE (PMF/GO-GCE) proved its electrocatalytic effect on OXC determination according to cyclic, linear sweep, and differential pulse voltammetry (CV, LSV, and DPV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) studies. The developed sensor under optimal conditions offered a linear relationship in a limited range of  0.01 to 45 μmol L^-1 with the limit of detection (LOD) of 2.0 nmol L^-1. The proposed PMF/GO-GCE sensor was effectively employed for the OXC detection in human urine and serum samples. Graphical abstract.

Use of a magnetic covalent organic framework material with a large specific surface area as an effective adsorbent for the extraction and determination of six fluoroquinolone antibiotics by HPLC in milk sample

A magnetic covalent organic framework material was synthesized with a core-shell structure using a simple solvothermal method. It was prepared with Fe₃ O₄ as the magnetic core, covalent organic framework as the shell, which synthesized from 1,3,5-triformylphloroglucinol and p-phenylenediamine by Schiff base reaction. Transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, powder X-ray diffraction, vibrating sample magnetometry, and nitrogen adsorption-desorption were used to characterize magnetic adsorbent. It has showed a large specific surface area (505.6 m² /g), which can provide many adsorption sites. Moreover, the saturation magnetization value was 48.4 emu/g enough to be separated by external magnet. Six kinds of fluoroquinolones (enoxacin, fleroxacin, ofloxacin, norfloxacin, pefloxacin, and lomefloxacin) were extracted by magnetic solid phase extraction with the magnetic adsorbent. High-performance liquid chromatography detects the entire adsorption and desorption process to further evaluate the optimal extraction and desorption conditions. Under the optimal chromatographic conditions, this method showed a low detection limit (0.05 to 0.20 μg/L), good linearity in the range of 0.5 to 200 μg/L, and the enrichment factor reaches 115.5-127.3. The spiked recovery of the fluoroquinolones in milk sample ranged from 90.4 to 101.2%.

Adsorption properties of advanced functional materials against gaseous formaldehyde

Intense efforts have been made to eliminate toxic volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in indoor environments, especially formaldehyde (FA). In this study, the removal performances of gaseous FA using two metal-organic frameworks, MOF-5 and UiO-66-NH₂, and two covalent-organic polymers, CBAP-1 (EDA) and CBAP-1 (DETA), along with activated carbon as a conventional reference material, were evaluated. To assess the removal capacity of FA under near-ambient conditions, a series of adsorption experiments were conducted at its concentrations/partial pressures of both low (0.1-0.5 ppm/0.01-0.05 Pa) and high ranges (5-25 ppm/0.5-2.5 Pa). Among all tested materials at the high-pressure region ㅐ (e.g., at 2.5 ppm FA), a maximum adsorption capacity of 69.7 mg g^-1 was recorded by UiO-66-NH₂. Moreover, UiO-66-NH₂ also displayed the best 10% breakthrough volume (BTV10) of 534 L g^-1 (0.5 ppm FA) to 2963 L g^-1 (0.1 ppm FA). In contrast, at the high concentration test (at 5, 10, and 25 ppm FA), the maximum BTV10 values were observed as: 137 (UiO-66-NH₂), 144 (CBAP-1 (DETA)), and 36.8 L g^-1 (CBAP-1 (EDA)), respectively. The Langmuir isotherm model was observed to be a better fit of the adsorption data than the Freundlich model under most of the tested conditions. The superiority of UiO-66-NH₂ was attributed to the van der Waals interactions between the linkers (framework) and the hydrocarbon "tail" (FA) coupled with interactions between its open metal sites and the FA carbonyl groups. This study demonstrated the good potential of these advanced functional materials toward the practical removal of gaseous FA in indoor environments.

One-pot synthesis of propargylamines using magnetic mesoporous polymelamine formaldehyde/zinc oxide nanocomposite as highly efficient, eco-friendly and durable nanocatalyst: optimization by DOE approach

Magnetic mesoporous polymelamine formaldehyde nanocomposite-incorporating ZnO nanoparticles were successfully synthesized using solvothermal and sol-gel methods. Fourier-transform infrared spectrometry (FT-IR), X-ray diffraction, Brunauer-Emmett-Teller, vibrating sample magnetometer, thermogravimetric analysis, elemental analysis, transmission electron microscopy and field emission scanning electron microscopy techniques were then utilized for evaluation of nanocomposites. The as-prepared nanocomposite can be used as heterogeneous nanocatalyst with remarkable performance for A³ coupling reaction toward one-pot synthesis of propargylamine and its derivatives under solvent-less condition. In order to maximize the product yield, the variables, i.e., reaction time, temperature and catalyst amount, were optimized by using a statistical approach. The synthesized nanocomposite can be easily separated from the reaction medium and reused over and over, without significant changes in its catalytic activity.

A High-Performance and Low-Cost Soy Flour Adhesive with a Hydroxymethyl Melamine Prepolymer

To improve the performance of a soy flour (SF)-based adhesive, a low-cost hydroxymethyl melamine prepolymer (HMP) was synthesized and then used to modify the SF-based adhesive. The HMP was characterized, and the performance of the adhesive was evaluated, including its residual rate, functions, thermal stability, and fracture section. Plywood was fabricated to measure wet shear strength. The results indicated that the HMP preferentially reacted with polysaccharose in SF and formed a cross-linking network to improve the water resistance of the adhesive. This polysaccharose-based network also combined with the HMP self-polycondensation network and soy protein to form an interpenetrating network, which further improved the water resistance of the adhesive. With the addition of 9% HMP, the wet shear strength (63 °C) of the plywood was 1.21 MPa, which was 9.3 times that of the SF adhesive. With the HMP additive increased to 15%, the shear strength (100 °C) of the plywood was 0.79 MPa, which met the plywood requirement for exterior use (≥0.7 MPa) in accordance with Chinese National Standard (GB/T 9846.3-2004). With the addition of 9% and 15% HMP, the residual rates of the adhesive improved by 5.1% and 8.5%, respectively. The dense interpenetrating network structure improved the thermal stability of the resultant adhesive and created a compact fracture to prevent moisture intrusion, which further increased the water resistance of the adhesive.