Molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction for selective trace analysis of trifluoperazine

In this study, a novel sample clean-up technique based on the molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction procedure is described for the determination of trifluoperazine (TFP) in biological fluids. The water-compatible molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) were prepared by using methacrylic acid as functional monomer, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross-linker, chloroform as porogen and TFP as the template molecule. The novel imprinted polymer was used as a solid-phase extraction sorbent for the extraction of TFP from human serum and urine samples. Various parameters affecting the extraction efficiency of the polymer were evaluated. The selectivity of MIPs was evaluated by checking several substances with molecular structures similar to the template. The limits of detection and quantification for TFP in urine samples were 0.06 and 0.2 µg/L, respectively. These limits for TFP in serum samples were 0.15 and 0.4 µg/L, respectively. The recovery values for serum and urine samples were higher than 92 and 93%, respectively.