Abstract:

Progesterone functions as an endocrine-disrupting compound. Imitating endogenous hormones disrupt the animals’ hormone levels. The potential hazard of progesterone in milk cannot be neglected. Thus, research has focused on establishing an efficient and convenient pretreatment and analytical approach. In this study, a metal-organic framework (MOF) material UiO-67 was prepared, which possessed a large specific surface area and excellent stability. It was employed to enrich and purify trace progesterones in a complex milk matrix as a filler to integrate the solid phase extraction column. An approach based on MOF was developed using ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole/electrostatic field orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS). This approach could simultaneously determine seven kinds of progesterone residues in milk. The element spectra of UiO-67 were first measured and analyzed using X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The chemical interaction between UiO-67 and progesterone was proved by comparing the changes in binding energy and relative contents of functional groups, and the adsorption efficiency of 1 mg/L and 5 mg/L progesterones by UiO-67 was studied. The adsorption efficiencies of UiO-67 for 1 mg/L and 5 mg/L progesterones were 99.73%-99.95% and 88.87%-99.23%, respectively, according to the results. It proved the efficient adsorption of UiO-67 to progesterones and ensured that subsequent studies went smoothly. Furthermore, key parameters, such as the amount of sorbent, elution solvent type, and pH value, were examined and optimized to obtain optimal extraction recovery of the progesterones. Spiked concentrations of 50 μg/L were employed for extraction optimization. All experiments were performed three times. It also evaluated the matrix effect on mass spectrum signal of the progesterones. The optimized results showed that the seven progesterones could be satisfactorily recovered when the amount of adsorbent was 40 mg, pH value of the sample solution was 5, and elution solution was 5-mL acetone. Additionally, the matrix effect of progesterone in the milk sample was <20%. The matrix effect could be neglected using the aforementioned approach to extract and purify progesterones in milk. Finally, the seven progesterones showed good linearity between 1 and 100 μg/L under the optimized conditions, with linear correlation coefficients values >0.99. The limits of detection (LODs) ranged from 0.06 to 0.30 μg/L, and limits of quantification (LOQs) ranged from 0.19 to 1.0 μg/L, respectively. At various concentration levels of progesterones in milk, the recoveries were 87.10%-105.58%, with relative standard deviations of 2.66%-9.64%. Most importantly, the approach was successfully employed to determine progesterone levels in milk samples, with results in good agreement with the standard SN/T 1980-2007. The proposed approach had the advantages of high sensitivity and satisfactory accuracy compared with the reported pretreatment and detection approaches of progesterone in milk. Satisfactory experimental results can be obtained without the calibration by isotope inner standard. Meanwhile, considering the excellent performance of MOF materials in reducing matrix interference in complex samples, such the application of materials offers a new approach. It can be employed to enrich and detect hazards in a complex matrix in the future.

Key words: ultra-high performance liquid chromatography-quadrupole/electrostatic field orbitrap high resolution mass spectrometry (UHPLC-Q-Orbitrap HRMS), sample pretreatment, solid phase extraction, metal-organic framework material, progesterone