Efficient extraction of fluorinated non-steroidal androgen receptor antagonists on a novel trifluoromethyl...

Given the widespread clinical use, environmental persistence, and potential ecological and health risks of non-steroidal androgen receptor antagonists (NSAAs), developing a highly selective and sensitive method to detect their residues in aquatic environments is of significant importance and poses considerable challenges. Based on the hydrophobicity and fluorine-containing characteristics of NSAAs, this study designed and prepared a novel trifluoromethyl functionalized magnetic microporous organic network (MMON-CF₃) for the efficient and selective magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) of three typical NSAAs, namely flutamide, bicalutamide, and enzalutamide, from environmental water samples before HPLC-UV quantification. The as-prepared MMON-CF₃ features a uniform core-shell structure, high specific surface area, good hydrophobicity, and superparamagnetism. These characteristics endow the material with outstanding extraction capability and selectivity toward the target NSAAs, driven by distinctive F-F contacts, hydrogen-bonding interactions, hydrophobic adsorption, and π-π conjugation. Under optimum extraction parameters, the developed MMON-CF₃-MSPE-HPLC-UV method demonstrated satisfactory analytical performance for the three analytes, including low limits of detection (0.1-0.2 μg L^-1), a broad linear range (0.5-1000 μg L^-1), high enrichment factors (91.2-95.6), minimal adsorbent dosage (3 mg), and fast extraction equilibrium (6 min). The present work underscores the promising application potential of fluorinated MON-based materials in the sample pretreatment of fluorinated pharmaceutical contaminants from complicated environmental matrices.