Synthesis and characterization of nontoxic chitosan-coated Fe3O4 particles for patulin adsorption in a juice-pH simulation aqueous

•High magnetic property and monodisperse chitosan-coated Fe3O4 particles are prepared.•Chitosan-coated Fe3O4 adsorbents are effective for patulin adsorption.•Chitosan-coated Fe3O4 adsorbents are noncytotoxic and show no histopathological in mice.

Chitosan-coated Fe3O4 particles were prepared as a magnetic adsorbent by reverse oil-in-water micro-emulsion system using Triton X-100 as the emulsifier. Coating chitosan onto the magnetic particles was confirmed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM), Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectra and magnetic measurements. Chitosan-coated Fe3O4 adsorbent was shown to be effective for patulin adsorption with a maximum adsorption capacity of 6.67 mg/g within 5 h by adding 300 μg adsorbents into 10 mL 200 μg/L patulin aqueous. In addition, the recovery rate of chitosan-coated Fe3O4 adsorbent reached to 99.95% within 60 min, showed its excellent recoverable performance. Moreover, in vitro cytotoxicity and acute toxicity evaluation were also conducted, the results suggested that the chitosan-coated Fe3O4 adsorbent was non-cytotoxic, and had no toxic response or histopathological changes on mice. The results of this study demonstrated that chitosan-coated Fe3O4 particles are promising adsorbents for patulin removal in fruit juice industry.