Preparation of COPs Mixed Matrix Membrane for Sensitive Determination of Six Sulfonamides in Human Urine

Abstract

In this study, TpDMB-COPs, a specific class of covalent organic polymers (COPs), was synthesized using Schiff-base chemistry and incorporated into a polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF) polymer for the first time to prepare COPs mixed matrix membranes (TpDMB-COPs-MMM). A membrane solid-phase extraction (ME) method based on the TpDMB-COPs-MMM was developed to extract trace levels of six sulfonamides from human urine identified by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). The key factors affecting the extraction efficiency were investigated. Under the optimum conditions, the proposed method demonstrated an excellent linear relationship in the range of 3.5–25 ng/mL (r2 ≥ 0.9991), with the low limits of detection (LOD) between 1.25 ng/mL and 2.50 ng/mL and the limit of quantification (LOQ) between 3.50 ng/mL and 7.00 ng/mL. Intra-day and inter-day accuracies were below 5.0%. The method’s accuracy was assessed by recovery experiments using human urine spiked at three levels (7–14 ng/mL, 10–15 ng/mL, and 16–20 ng/mL). The recoveries ranged from 87.4 to 112.2% with relative standard deviations (RSD) ≤ 8.7%, confirming the applicability of the proposed method. The developed ME method based on TpDMB-COPs-MMM offered advantages, including simple operation, superior extraction affinity, excellent recycling performance, and easy removal and separation from the solution. The prepared TpDMB-COPs-MMM was demonstrated to be a promising adsorbent for ME in the pre-concentration of trace organic compounds from complex matrices, expanding the application of COPs and providing references for other porous materials in sample pre-treatment.