Determination of formaldehyde in the daily living environment using membrane-enhanced water plug coupled extraction following peptide-based greener reaction derivatization

•A membrane-enhanced extraction coupled with water plug method was developed.•The method was used to determinate formaldehyde in the daily-living environment.•Formaldehyde was derivatized using a peptide-based greener reaction.•MALDI-TOF MS utilization to detect formaldehyde proved feasible.