Nanobeads-based rapid magnetic solid phase extraction of trace amounts of leuco-malachite green in Chinese major carps

A proof-of-concept for the use of oleic acid coated magnetic nanobeads (OA-MNBs) for the magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) of trace amounts of leuco-malachite green (LMG) from fish samples was developed. The OA-MNBs were prepared by covalently conjugating oleic acid on amino-modified magnetic polystyrene beads. The OA-MNBs were characterized with transmission electron microscopy, Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and zeta-potential analyzer. The optimized parameters for MSPE with OA-MNBs of LMG from fish muscle involved a combination of pH 10.0 in 10% acetonitrile, 1.5 M sodium chloride as an adsorption solution, and an extraction procedure involving 6 mg OA-MNBs in 18 mL LMG adsorption solution. This was optimized for 0.5 g fish muscles with an incubation period of 10 min using 200 μL acetonitrile for elution. Using the optimized parameters, the performance of MSPE with OA-MNBs was evaluated by analyzing LMG-spiked fish extracts with liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) method. The results indicated that recoveries of LMG (from 0.1 to 2 ng/g) ranged from 71.2%–112.6% with relative standard deviations as low as 0.6%. Out of 57 field fish samples, eight LMG positive samples were confirmed using MSPE with OA-MNBs. Compared with traditional liquid–liquid extraction methods, the results showed that MSPE with OA-MNBs had a higher sensitivity for samples with low LMG concentration. Furthermore, the MSPE with OA-MNB took only 40 min to perform without the need for time consuming sample-pretreatment process. Therefore, MSPE with OA-MNBs holds promise for rapid, sensitive, and cost effective screening for LMG in fish samples.