Tetrafluoroterephthalonitrile-crosslinked β-cyclodextrin polymers for efficient extraction and recovery of organic micropollutants from water

In this study, we evaluated the performance of a novel tetrafluoroterephthalonitrile-crosslinked β-cyclodextrin polymer (TFN-CDP) as a solid-phase extraction (SPE) material for the recovery of up to 189 diverse organic micropollutants (MPs) from water. The optimized extraction procedure requires loading of water samples adjusted to a pH of 3 onto 500 mg of TFN-CDP packed into an SPE cartridge. Under these conditions, 88.7% of the MPs have average extraction efficiencies greater than 80%. The optimized recovery procedure requires elution with 15 mL of methanol amended with 15 mg of calcium chloride. Under these conditions, 58.4% of the MPs have average absolute recoveries between 80% and 120%. We compared the performance of the optimized SPE method for TFN-CDP with a previously optimized SPE method employing hydrophilic-lipophilic balance (HLB) adsorbents in nanopure water and in wastewater-impacted surface water. The data indicate that the optimized TFN-CDP method performs as well as or better than the optimized HLB-based SPE method. These findings represent an important step forward in the development of sustainable and inexpensive materials for the extraction and recovery of organic MPs from water.