Patulin is a toxic compound which is found predominantly in apples affected by mould rot. Since apples and apple-containing products are a popular food for the elderly, children and babies, the monitoring of the toxin is crucial. This paper describes a development of a computationally-designed polymeric adsorbent for the solid-phase extraction of patulin, which provides an effective clean-up of the food samples and allows the detection and accurate quantification of patulin levels present in apple juice using conventional chromatography methods. The developed bespoke polymer demonstrates a quantitative binding towards the patulin present in undiluted apple juice. The polymer is inexpensive and easy to mass-produce. The contributing factors to the function of the adsorbent is a combination of acidic and basic functional monomers producing a zwitterionic complex in the solution that formed stronger binding complexes with the patulin molecule. The protocols described in this paper provide a blueprint for the development of polymeric adsorbents for other toxins or different food matrices.

中文翻译：

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针对霉菌毒素棒蛋白的计算设计聚合物吸附剂的开发

棒曲霉素是一种有毒化合物，主要存在于受霉菌腐蚀的苹果中。由于苹果和含苹果的产品是老年人，儿童和婴儿的流行食品，因此毒素的监测至关重要。本文介绍了一种用于固相提取棒曲霉素的计算设计聚合物吸附剂的开发方法，该吸附剂可有效净化食品样品，并允许使用常规色谱方法检测和准确定量苹果汁中存在的棒曲霉素水平。研发的定制聚合物显示出对未稀释苹果汁中存在的棒曲蛋白的定量结合。该聚合物便宜且易于大量生产。影响吸附剂功能的因素是酸性和碱性功能单体的组合，在溶液中产生两性离子复合物，该两性离子复合物与巡视蛋白分子形成更强的结合复合物。本文中描述的协议为开发其他毒素或不同食品基质的聚合物吸附剂提供了一个蓝图。