A convenient and effective method for determining organophosphorus pesticides in citrus fruits based on a novel dispersive solid phase extraction using UiO-66/Alg bead as the sorbent

This work presents a novel, convenient and effective method for assaying organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) in the pulp and peel of citrus fruits. In this method, shaped UiO-66/alginate (UiO-66/Alg) beads were employed to replace the powder sorbents used in traditional dispersive solid phase extraction (d-SPE) methods. The UiO-66/ Alg beads can be easily separated by only using a tweezer within 1 min, which effectively simplifies the sample pretreatment and overcomes the shortages brought by the incomplete separation of powder sorbents. Moreover, the matrix compounds can be effectively excluded by UiO-66/Alg beads, and the UiO-66/Alg beads can be reused at least 8 times. The d-SPE conditions were optimized by a single factor test. The method shows satisfactory sensitivity, accuracy and precision. Furthermore, ATR-FTIR and UV-Vis-DRS were employed to investigate the adsorption mechanism. Finally, the developed method was applied to monitor the OPPs in ten different citrus fruits.

Automated summary

This study presents a novel, convenient, and effective method for assaying organophosphorus pesticides (OPPs) in citrus fruits. The use of shaped UiO-66/Alg beads in place of traditional powder sorbents simplifies the sample pretreatment process and improves separation efficiency. Furthermore, UiO-66/Alg beads exhibit good reusability and effectively exclude matrix interferences. The method demonstrates satisfactory sensitivity, accuracy, and precision, and the adsorption mechanism is investigated using ATR-FTIR and UV-Vis-DRS techniques.