Porous organic cage incorporated monoliths for solid-phase extraction coupled with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry for identification of ecdysteroids from Chenopodium quinoa Willd.

Here, a porous organic cage (POC)-incorporated polymeric monolith was fabricated in a syringe through the introduction of the POC into poly(ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) monolith in a one-step traditional free-radical polymerization proceess. The resulting monolithic phases were characterized by scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR), powder X-ray diffraction (PXRD), nitrogen adsorption/desorption experiments and thermogravimetric analysis (TGA), which confirmed the successful incorporation of the POC in the monolithic matrix. The functionality of the POC-incorporated poly(EDMA) monolith facilitated for the solid phase extraction (SPE) of 20-hydroxecdysone (an ecdysteroid) from Chenopodium quinoa Willd. extract coupled with UPLC-QqQ-MS/MS, exhibiting satisfactory accuracy (93-106%), precision (< 6.5%) and reusability. In addition, UPLC-Q-Exactive-Orbitrap-MS/MS analysis of the quinoa sample after SPE by POC-incorporated monolith provided the identification of 20-hydroxecdysone and three other ecdysteroids. These results demonstrate the potential of POC-incorporated monoliths for the SPE of ecdysteroids from complex plant systems.