Highly efficient and convenient QuEChERS using ZIF-67 derived magnetic nanoporous carbon for determination of carbamate pesticides in various vegetable and fruit samples

Zi-Ling Li; Xiao-Run Qi; Yi-Heng Xu; Jia-Qi Zhao; Gui-Fu Zuo; Man-Man Wang

doi:10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.142904

Highly efficient and convenient QuEChERS using ZIF-67 derived magnetic nanoporous carbon for determination of carbamate pesticides in various vegetable and fruit samples

Food Chem. 2025 Jan 18:472:142904. doi: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.142904. Online ahead of print.

Authors

Zi-Ling Li¹, Xiao-Run Qi¹, Yi-Heng Xu¹, Jia-Qi Zhao¹, Gui-Fu Zuo², Man-Man Wang³

Affiliations

¹ School of Public Health, Hebei Key Laboratory of Occupational Health and Safety for Coal Industry, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan 063210, Hebei, China.
² College of Materials Science and Engineering, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan 063210, Hebei, China.
³ School of Public Health, Hebei Key Laboratory of Occupational Health and Safety for Coal Industry, North China University of Science and Technology, Tangshan 063210, Hebei, China. Electronic address: mmwangheuu@126.com.

PMID: 39848044
DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2025.142904

Abstract

Effective and convenient QuEChERS of lipophilic pesticides with wide pK_a range from strongly pigment-rich food samples remains a great challenge. Here, a ZIF-67 derived magnetic nanoporous carbon (Co@MPC) was firstly proposed for modified QuEChERS of carbamate pesticides (pK_a 4.3-12.3) in various vegetable and fruit samples prior to LC-MS/MS. This sorbent offered superior adsorption capacities of 29.89 mg/g and 22.28 mg/g towards chlorophyll and lutein via π-π and hydrophobic interactions. The present method exhibited acceptable matrix effect of -4.8 %-14.4 %, low detection limits of 0.003-0.02 μg/kg and satisfactory recoveries of 80.2 %-108 % in celery, cabbage, Chinese cabbage, apple, banana and orange samples. 10 mg of Co@MPC enabled highly efficient matrix purification and isolation in 20 s, offering low-cost and facile clean-up process. The study highlighted great potential of Co@MPC as QuEChERS sorbent, and demonstrated its wide applicability and broad application prospects to monitor the contaminants in food items.

Keywords: Carbamate pesticides; Food analysis; Magnetic nanoporous carbon; QuEChERS; ZIF-67.