Room-temperature synthesis of magnetic covalent organic frameworks for analyzing trace benzoylurea insecticide residue in tea beverages

•A novel magnetic covalent organic framework (NH2–Fe3O4@COF) was synthesized and used as a MSPE adsorbent.•Adsorption mechanism of benzoylurea insecticides (BUs) on NH2–Fe3O4@COF was elucidated by DFT study.•Low limits of detection, good precision, and wide linearities were obtained by the proposed MSPE–LC–MS/MS method. A novel magnetic covalent organic framework (NH2–Fe3O4@COF) was prepared using a simple room-temperature synthesis in this study. These magnetic particles exhibited high adsorption performance with short adsorption time (10 min) for six benzoylurea insecticides (BUs) as magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) adsorbents. Quantum chemistry calculation demonstrated that adsorption mechanism was primarily attributed to strong halogen bonds between electronegative O atoms of COF and electropositive F atoms of BUs as well as potential hydrophobic effect. Wide linearities (10–1000 ng·L−1) and low limits of detection (0.06–1.65 ng·L−1) for six analytes were obtained via liquid chromatography–tandem mass spectrometry. Applicability of the proposed method was further evaluated by analyzing four kinds of original tea beverages. Recoveries of six BUs in spiked samples ranged from 80.1% to 108.4%.