Advanced Magnetic Imprinted Polymers Integrated with In Situ Ionization Mass Spectrometry for High-Throughput...

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Materials Science
• Food Safety

Background:

• Pesticide residues in food pose significant risks to public health.
• Efficient and sensitive detection methods are crucial for food safety monitoring.
• Traditional methods often involve complex procedures and significant chemical waste.

Purpose of the Study:

• To introduce magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (MMIPs) for pesticide residue analysis.
• To evaluate the adsorption capacity, selectivity, and reusability of MMIPs.
• To develop a rapid and efficient sample preparation method for high-throughput pesticide screening.

Main Methods:

• Synthesis and characterization of MMIPs using FT-IR, SEM, TEM, VSM, and UV-vis spectrophotometry.
• Application of MMIPs for preconcentration of pesticide residues from food samples.
• Integration of MMIP-based sample pretreatment with Low-Temperature Plasma Mass Spectrometry (LTP-MS) and LC-TQ-MS for detection.

Main Results:

• MMIPs demonstrated a high adsorption capacity (15.70–23.57 mg g^-1) for multiple pesticides.
• Rapid screening of 108 pesticides achieved 86.9% detection sensitivity.
• Successful qualitative detection in cucumber, tomato, cabbage, and leek samples with good recovery rates (60.12%–119.84%).

Conclusions:

• MMIPs provide an effective, selective, and reusable tool for pesticide residue enrichment.
• The MMIP-LTP-MS method enables rapid, high-throughput determination of pesticide residues in food.
• This approach significantly enhances the efficiency and precision of food safety analysis.