Macro-microporous zeolitic imidazole framework-8/cellulose aerogel for semi-automated pipette tip solid phase extraction of fluoroquinolones in water

Highlights: • ZIF-8/cellulose aerogel was fabricated through a simple doping method. • The hybrid was used as the adsorbent in semi-automated PT-SPE to enrich and purify FQs. • Back pressure and material loss were settled after introducing cellulose aerogel. • Semi-automated PT-SPE can be achieved with the injection-pump. • A molecular docking approach was adopted to explain the adsorption mechanism. In this study, Zeolitic Imidazole Framework-8/cellulose aerogel (ZIF-8/CA) hybrid was successfully fabricated through a simple doping method and ZIF-8 acted as the major component for adsorption. In order to elucidate the adsorption mechanism deeply, molecular simulation was adopted to the expound the interaction modes between ZIF-8 and the fluoroquinolones (FQs). ZIF-8/CA was used as the adsorbent for semi-automated pipette tip solid phase extraction (PT-SPE). In combination with high performance liquid chromatography tandem fluorescence detector (HPLC-FLD), the established method was successfully employed to determine trace amount of FQs in water samples. Extraction parameters such as the content of ZIF-8, pH of sample solution, volume of sample, flow rate of sampling, type and volume of elution solvent were investigated. Under the optimized conditions, satisfactory linearity was achieved with the correlation coefficient (R²) ranging from 0.9954 to 0.9992. The limits of detection were in the range of 0.337–1.707 ng L⁻¹. And the recoveries varied from 75.9% to 96.8% with RSD less than 8.0%. The established method was demonstrated to be sensitive, efficient and convenient.