Magnetic covalent organic framework as an absorbent coupled with a portable mass spectrometer for rapid detection of malachite green and its metabolite residues

It is important to develop specific adsorbents for malachite green and other fish drug residues. Herein, a simple strategy for synthesizing a novel magnetic covalent organic frameworks (rFe₃O₄@Py-COF) has been studied, and the materials were used as a magnetic absorbent for solid phase extraction (MSPE) of malachite green (MG) and its metabolite as leucomalachite green (LMG) in fishes. In this study, the mild reduction program of formic acid replacing traditional sodium borohydride as a reducing agent has been adopted to increase the stability of the framework, which can maintain the original high crystallinity and surface area of the reduced COF. The secondary amine bond is expected to be used as the reaction center for further functionalization of COF pore wall. Subsequently, rFe₃O₄@Py-COF (rmCOF) obtained after reduction was used as MSPE materials to detect MG and LMG by a portable mass spectrometer. After optimizing the conditions, the linearity is good within the range of 1.25∼100 μg/kg (R²≥0.9954), the limits of detection (LODs) are 0.31∼0.44 μg/kg with satisfactory recovery (85.0 %∼106.0 %). These results indicate that the assay is suitable for monitoring MG and LMG in complex aquatic foods, providing protection for food safety.