Boronate affinity molecularly imprinted covalent organic framework for highly selective recognition and extraction of zearalenone.

Selective and sensitive determination of zearalenone (ZEN) in food matrices is crucial for risk assessment and mycotoxin control due to its high toxicity. Herein, we introduce a boron affinity molecularly imprinted covalent organic framework (BA-MICOF) for selective extraction of ZEN from cereal. The Povarov reaction was employed for one-pot synthesis of boric acid incorporated COF (BA-COF) to avoid complex post-modification. BA-COF was then used to prepare BA-MICOF via a boron affinity imprinting strategy. The specific interaction between ZEN and BA-MICOF, involving hydrogen bonding and boron affinity, endows BA-MICOF with superior selectivity (imprinting factor of 10.8). Subsequently, a BA-MICOF based solid-phase extraction method was developed for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) determination of ZEN. The method gave a low detection limit (0.26 μg kg), good recovery (89.3 %-106 %), and precision (RSD 1.8 %-5.4 %). The combination of boron affinity imprinting and porous frameworks presents a promising approach for selective capture of contaminants in food matrices.