Feasibility of metal–organic nanotubes [Cu3(μ3-O)(μ-OH)(triazolate)2]+-coated fibers for solid-phase microextraction of polychlorinated biphenyls in water samples

• MONTs-coated SPME fiber was fabricated for the first time.
• The fiber exhibited good thermal stability and large enhancement factors for PCBs.
• The fiber achieved low LODs, wide linearity, and good repeatability for PCBs.

Metal-organic nanotubes (MONTs), a novel class of hybrid materials, have attracted considerable attention because of their uniform and fixed internal diameters, impressive topological structures, and versatile applications. However, to the best of our knowledge, no studies on MONTs coating fabrication for solid-phase microextraction are yet available. The aim of this work is to investigate the feasibility of using [Cu3(μ3-O)(μ-OH)(triazolate)2]+ as a solid-phase microextraction coating material to enrich trace levels of polychlorinated biphenyls in water samples. The novel [Cu3(μ3-O)(μ-OH)(triazolate)2]+-coated fibers achieved large enhancement factors (396–1343), low limits of detection (3.9–21.7 pg L−1), and wide linearity (0.1–500 ng L−1) for detecting polychlorinated biphenyls. Relative standard deviations obtained ranged from 2.12 to 7.22%, and spiked PCBs recoveries (spiking concentrations of 1 and 5 ng L−1) in four environmental water samples ranged from 71.3 to 104%. These findings indicate that [Cu3(μ3-O)(μ-OH)(triazolate)2]+ as a solid-phase microextraction coating material is an excellent alternative for the rapid and sensitive analysis of trace levels of polychlorinated biphenyls in the environment.