{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,1,17]],"date-time":"2026-01-17T20:52:55Z","timestamp":1768683175723,"version":"3.49.0"},"reference-count":31,"publisher":"MDPI AG","issue":"10","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2018,10,10]],"date-time":"2018-10-10T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1539129600000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":["Molecules"],"abstract":"<jats:p>A new procedure for the functionalization of melamine sponge (MeS) with urea-formaldehyde (UF) co-oligomers is put forward. The procedure differs from the typical synthesis of the UF co-polymer, as it employs a base-catalyzed condensation step at certain concentrations of urea and formaldehyde. The produced melamine-urea-formaldehyde (MUF) sponge cubes are hydrophobic, despite the presence of hydrophilic groups in the oligomers. The MUF sponge developed herein is used as a sorbent for the solid-phase extraction of 10 analytes, from 6 different classes (i.e., non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, benzophenones, parabens, phenols, pesticides and musks) and an analytical method is developed for their liquid chromatographic separation and detection. Low limits of quantification (0.03 and 1.0 \u03bcg L\u22121), wide linear ranges and excellent recoveries (92\u2013100%) are some of the benefits of the proposed procedure. The study of the synthesis conditions of MUF cubes reveals that by altering them the hydrophilic\/lipophilic balance of the MUF cubes can be tuned, hinting towards a strong potential for many other applications.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.3390\/molecules23102595","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2018,10,10]],"date-time":"2018-10-10T11:53:13Z","timestamp":1539172393000},"page":"2595","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/mdpi_crossmark_policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":17,"title":["Melamine Sponge Functionalized with Urea-Formaldehyde Co-Oligomers as a Sorbent for the Solid-Phase Extraction of Hydrophobic Analytes"],"prefix":"10.3390","volume":"23","author":[{"given":"Mar\u00eda Teresa","family":"Garc\u00eda-Valverde","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Grupo FQM-215, Departamento de Qu\u00edmica Anal\u00edtica, Instituto Universitario de Investigaci\u00f3n en Qu\u00edmica Fina y Nanoqu\u00edmica (IUIQFN), Universidad de C\u00f3rdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Edificio Marie Curie, E-14071 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0001-8885-2483","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Theodoros","family":"Chatzimitakos","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"ORCID":"https:\/\/orcid.org\/0000-0002-4625-2460","authenticated-orcid":false,"given":"Rafael","family":"Lucena","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Grupo FQM-215, Departamento de Qu\u00edmica Anal\u00edtica, Instituto Universitario de Investigaci\u00f3n en Qu\u00edmica Fina y Nanoqu\u00edmica (IUIQFN), Universidad de C\u00f3rdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Edificio Marie Curie, E-14071 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Soledad","family":"C\u00e1rdenas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Grupo FQM-215, Departamento de Qu\u00edmica Anal\u00edtica, Instituto Universitario de Investigaci\u00f3n en Qu\u00edmica Fina y Nanoqu\u00edmica (IUIQFN), Universidad de C\u00f3rdoba, Campus de Rabanales, Edificio Marie Curie, E-14071 C\u00f3rdoba, Spain"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]},{"given":"Constantine D.","family":"Stalikas","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry, Department of Chemistry, University of Ioannina, 45110 Ioannina, Greece"}],"role":[{"role":"author","vocabulary":"crossref"}]}],"member":"1968","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2018,10,10]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref_1","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","unstructured":"Chatzimitakos, T., and Stalikas, C. 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