Ionic hyper-cross-linked porous polymer with pendant hydroxyl groups for robust enrichment of phenolic pollutants

Herein, a sensitive analytical technique is presented for detection of phenolic pollutants in real samples. At first, novel ionic hyper-cross-linked polymer named as NN-HCP was synthesized using hydroxyl-functionalized N-benzyl-2-hydroxy-N,N-dimethylethanaminium chloride as monomer, 4,4'-bis(chloromethyl)biphenyl as crosslinker. Hierarchical porous structure and hydroxyl-functionalized surface of the NN-HCP endow it with exceptional adsorption toward phenolic pollutants. Adsorption study reveals a synergistic mechanism involving hydrogen bonding, electrostatic forces and π-π interactions. A method for quantification of phenolic pollutants in shrimp and environmental water was achieved via high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with NN-HCP solid phase extraction. The method obtained detection limits as low as 1.13-3.97 ng g^-1 in shrimp, 0.005-0.02 ng mL^-1 in water, achieving good recovery of 85.4-117% and satisfactory relative standard deviations ≤8.2%. This work provides an innovative strategy for fabrication of ionic and hydroxyl functionalized adsorbent to monitor phenolic pollutants in real samples, suggesting significant potential in hazards analysis.