Highly sensitive SERS sensing of metabolic modulators by COF@Ag nanocomposite for food safety monitoring

Letrozole, anastrozole and trimetazidine are all included in the prohibited list of the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). At present, there is still a lack of a systematic Surface-Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS) spectral database for these drugs, and traditional detection methods suffer from limitations such as insufficient sensitivity and cumbersome operation procedures. In this study, a novel COF@Ag composite was utilized as a SERS-enhanced substrate in combination with a portable Raman spectrometer, allowing for accurate identification and effective differentiation of the characteristic peaks of the three prohibited drugs. Moreover, this method exhibited excellent performance in detecting actual milk matrix samples, with the spiked recovery rate ranging from 98.9% to 101.1%, thereby directly meeting the practical demands of on-site rapid screening. This work offers a reliable and convenient strategy for both sports food safety monitoring and pharmaceutical analysis.