Molecularly imprinted polymer for solid-phase extraction of ephedrine and analogs from human plasma

A molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was synthesized and evaluated to selectively extract ephedrine from human plasma. The MIP synthesis was performed in chloroform with methacrylic acid as a functional monomer and the target alkaloid as a template molecule. The resulting MIP was applied to the selective extraction of ephedrine from a pure aqueous medium. A recovery about 74% was obtained using the MIP with only 7% on the nonimprinted polymer (NIP). A very straightforward selective SPE procedure was then successfully applied to the direct extraction of ephedrine from spiked human plasma with a high extraction recovery (68%) on the MIP with no recovery on the NIP. Moreover, the MIP was used for the selective extraction of catecholamine neurotransmitters, i.e. adrenaline and noradrenaline.