Poly[(2-(acryloyloxy) ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride-co-ethylene dimethacrylate monolith on-line solid-phase extraction coupled with liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry for the fast determination of salicylic acid in foodstuffs.

We report the fabrication of an anion-exchange monolithic column in a stainless-steel chromatographic column (10 mm × 2.1 mm i.d.) using [2-(acryloyloxy) ethyl]trimethylammonium chloride as the monomer and ethylene dimethacrylate as the crosslinker. The prepared monolith was developed as the adsorbent for the on-line solid-phase extraction of salicylic acid in various animal-origin foodstuffs combined with liquid chromatography and tandem mass spectrometry. The monolith was characterized by using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, scanning electron microscopy, nitrogen adsorption analysis, and elemental analysis. Potential factors affecting the on-line solid-phase extraction and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry analysis were studied in detail. Under the optimized conditions, the total analysis time including cleanup and liquid chromatography with tandem mass spectrometry separation was 17 min. The developed method gave the linear range of 15-750 μg/kg, detection limits (S/N = 3) of 5 μg/kg, and quantification limits (S/N = 10) of 15 μg/kg. The recoveries obtained by spiking 10, 20, and 100 μg/kg of salicylic acid in the animal-origin food samples were in the range of 85.2-98.4%. In addition, the monolith was stable enough for 550 extraction cycles with the precision of peak area ≤11.6%.