Development of an aptamer-functionalized capillary monolithic column for the highly-selective and highly-efficient recognition of patulin

Patulin is a type of mycotoxin that can compromise both food quality and human health, and its potential toxic effects on human health are concerning. Therefore, strict monitoring of patulin content in food systems is necessary. However, discrimination and quantification of this toxin are difficult because of its extremely low concentration at pg/g levels in food samples. A highly specific sample preparation method is, thus, vital for patulin analysis. Herein, we present an innovative approach for the facile and controllable preparation of an aptamer-functionalized capillary monolithic polymer hybrid for the determination of patulin in food samples with high specificity and high affinity by using the aptamer-functionalized monolithic capillary polymer hybrid as a sorbent for solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS). The results confirmed that the developed SPME-UHPLC-MS/MS method was a sensitive and selective because of a low detection limit of 2.17 pmol/L and a linear range extending from 0.00811 to 8.11 nmol/L. Patulin was found to be present in apple juice samples (4.34 ng/kg). Furthermore, the recoveries were 85.4–106% with relative standard deviations ( n  = 5) of 4.1–7.3%. Thus, the highly selective method will facilitate the ultrasensitive detection of target molecules in diverse applications.