Facile construction of magnetic azobenzene-based framework materials for enrichment and sensitive determination of phenylurea herbicides

Abstract

Exploring new material as adsorbent for the efficient enrichment of pollutants is always of great significance in analytical chemistry. In this work, a magnetic azobenzene framework (labeled as MAzo) was constructed as a magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) adsorbent by a simple and environmentally benign strategy. The MAzo exhibited the attractive features of strong magnetism, outstanding adsorption performance, as well as good reusability. Combining MAzo-based MSPE with high performance liquid-phase chromatography, a simple and effective method was developed for simultaneous determination of four phenylurea herbicides in pear juice and apple juice samples. Under optimized experimental conditions, the method offered low limits of detection of 0.05-0.15 ng mL-1, high recoveries of 86.7-109.2% with RSD less than 7%. Density functional theory calculation indicated that the good adsorption performance of MAzo for PUHs can be ascribed to the strong H-bonding forces and weak π-π interactions. The facile, green, low-cost synthesis method together with the excellent adsorption performance endows the MAzo great application prospect in sample preparation.