High sensitivity for detecting trace Sn2+ in canned food using novel covalent organic frameworks

Tin (Sn) element plays a vital role in the human body, and its detection is a mandatory inspection item for canned food. The application of covalent organic frameworks (COFs) in fluorescence detection has received extensive attentions. In this work, we designed a kind of novel COFs ( COF-ETTA-DMTA ) with high specific surface area (353.13 m 2 /g) by solvothermal synthesis using 2,5-dimethoxy-1,4-dialdehyde and tetra (4-aminophenyl) ethylene as precursors. It shows fast response time (about 50 s), low detection limit (228 nM) and good linearity (R 2  = 0.9968) for the detection of Sn 2+ . Via coordination behavior, the recognition mechanism of COFs toward Sn 2+ was simulated and verified by the small molecule with the same functional unit. More importantly, this COFs was successfully applied to identify Sn 2+ in solid canned food (luncheon pork, canned fish, canned red kidney beans) with satisfactory results. This work provides a new approach for determining metal ions with COFs taking the advantage of their natural rich reaction set and specific surface area, improving the detection sensitivity and capacity.