Adsorption behavior of a metal organic framework of University in Oslo 67 and its application to the extraction of sulfonamides in meat samples

In this work, a dispersive solid phase extraction (d-SPE) method for sulfonamides (SAs) has been developed using a stable and mesoporous metal organic framework (University in Oslo 67, UiO-67) as adsorbent, which was synthesized by coordination of Zr4+ ions with 4, 4-biphenyl-dicarboxylicacid (H2BPDC) through a facile one-pot method. Owing to the synergistic effects of π-π interaction, hydrogen bonding, hydrophobic interaction and size match between SAs and the adsorbent, the extraction performance of UiO-67 for SAs was obviously improved. The adsorption behavior, evaluated by the kinetic models, showed that the intraparticle diffusion was involved during the adsorption process. The proper match between the pore size of UiO-67 (3.49 nm) and the molecular sizes of SAs (1.1 nm × 0.65 nm) not only allowed SAs to diffuse intraparticle but also permitted them to adjust their configurations to form hydrogen bonding with the UiO-67. By combination with HPLC analysis, a simple, sensitive, accurate and precise method for detection of SAs has been established. The method proposed in this work showed good performances, including wide linearity (14.6–250 ng/g) with high correlation coefficients (R ≥ 0.9991), low limits of detection (LODs, 0.7–6.5 ng/g for all SAs), satisfactory precision (Intra-day RSDs ≤ 3.4%, inter-day RSDs ≤ 4.7%), and high accuracy (recovery: 83.4–103.8%). Furthermore, benefiting from the mesoporous structure and the Zr cluster center as well as the stability, UiO-67 shows great potential to be an excellent adsorbent of SPE for extraction of SAs from other complex matrices. •A high performance d-SPE method for sulfonamides was established.•The synergistic effect of π—π interaction, hydrogen bonding and size match was involved.•The adsorption mechanism was studied by using kinetic models.•The pore size of UiO-67 showed high match with molecular diameters of sulfonamides.