Rapid and efficient determination of phenylurea herbicides in edible and medicinal herbs by D-SPE method using a microporous metal-organic framework adsorbent

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Abstract

A rapid and efficient method is highly desired for the determination of phenylurea herbicides (PUHs) in edible and medicinal herbs. Herein, we report a dispersive solid-phase extraction (d-SPE) method using a metal-organic framework Zn₄O(NTB)₂ as the adsorbent. The microporous Zn₄O(NTB)₂ can selectively extract targets while excluding matrix substances. Under optimized conditions, this method exhibits high sensitivity, with a limit of detections (LODs) and limits of quantification (LOQs) in the range of 0.09–0.32 ng mL⁻¹ and 0.32–1.08 ng mL⁻¹, respectively. Moreover, the recoveries reach the range of 69.8 %-83.3 % with relative standard deviations below 6.2 %. The optimized adsorption efficiency of PUHs can be rapidly achieved in a short time of 10 min. Additionally, the adsorbent can be facilely regenerated with methanol washing. Furthermore, computational simulations reveal the guest-host interactions involving hydrogen bonding, π-π stacking interactions, and Van der Waals interactions. Practically, the established method has been successfully validated for extracting PUHs from Dendrobium candidum and Ganoderma lucidum samples.