Polyphenylene core-conjugated microporous polymer coating for highly sensitive solid-phase microextraction of polar phenol compounds in water samples

The high performance separation and pre-concentration of polar phenols from aqueous matrices is difficult because of the strong interactions between phenols and water molecules. Conjugated microporous polymers (CMPs) are a kind of novel porous organic materials. Polyphenylene core-conjugated microporous polymers (PPc-CMPs) were used as a novel coating material in the solid-phase microextraction of polar phenols in water samples for the first time. The novel PPc-CMPs fibers exhibited good thermal stability (>450 °C), high enrichment factors (519–2372), low limits of detection (0.02–0.05 ng L−1), wide linearity (0.1–1000 ng L−1), and good repeatability (2.5%–8.1%) for polar phenols. The new coating was successfully used in the analysis of phenols in real environmental water samples. PPc-CMPs as a polar solid-phase microextraction coating material was excellent for the rapid and sensitive analysis of phenols at trace levels in the environment. [Display omitted] •PPc-CMPs-coated fiber exhibited high thermal stability (> 450°C).•The fiber achieved excellent extraction performance towards phenols.•Hydrophobicity, hydrogen-bond and π–π interactions were possible mechanism.•The fiber was employed for the analysis of phenols in real aqueous samples.