Construction of covalent triazine-based frameworks and application to solid phase microextraction of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons from honey samples

Honey, a highly nutritious functional food, might be contaminated by polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) during its production and/or harvest. The preconcentration and analysis of trace levels of PAHs from the complex sample matrices like honey still poses challenges for analytical researchers. In this study, three different covalent triazine-based frameworks (CTFs) were synthesized and explored as the solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coating for the extraction of some PAHs from various honey samples. Among the CTFs, cyanuric chloride- p -quaterphenyl (CC-QP) exhibited the highest extraction capability toward PAHs due to its largest specific surface area and π-electrons system. Under the optimum experimental conditions, the CC-QP based SPME method exhibited wide linearity (0.10–100 ng g −1 ), low limits of detection (0.03–0.19 ng g −1 ) and good reproducibility (relative standard deviations < 9.9%). The new SPME method coupled with chromatography-mass spectrometry detection was successfully applied for the determination of PAHs in honey samples with satisfactory recoveries (82.0–116.8%).