In situ fabrication of covalent organic frameworks on solid-phase microextraction probes coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry for enrichment and determination of androgens in biosamples

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled with electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) was developed for rapid and sensitive determination of endogenous androgens. The SPME probe is coated with covalent organic frameworks (COFs) synthesized by reacting 1,3,5-tri(4-aminophenyl)benzene (TPB) with 2,5-dioctyloxybenzaldehyde (C8PDA). This COFs-SPME probe offers several advantages, including enhanced extraction efficiency and stability. The analytical method exhibited wide linearity (0.1–100.0 µg L⁻¹), low limits of detection (0.03–0.07 µg L⁻¹), high enrichment factors (37–154), and satisfactory relative standard deviations (RSDs) for both within one probe (4.0–14.8%) and between different probes (3.4–12.7%). These remarkable performance characteristics highlight the reliability and precision of the COFs-SPME-ESI-MS method. The developed method was successfully applied to detect five kinds of endogenous androgens in female serum samples, indicating that the developed analytical method has great potential for application in preliminary clinical diagnosis. Graphical abstract: (Figure presented.).