Simultaneous extraction of acidic and basic drugs via on-chip electromembrane extraction

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Separation Science
• Microfluidics

Background:

• Simultaneous extraction of acidic and basic analytes presents analytical challenges.
• Existing methods may lack efficiency or require complex procedures.
• Microfluidic devices offer miniaturized and efficient extraction platforms.

Purpose of the Study:

• To design and validate a on-chip electromembrane extraction (CEME) system.
• To achieve simultaneous extraction of acidic (mefenamic acid, diclofenac) and basic (betaxolol) model analytes.
• To evaluate the performance of CEME for biological sample analysis.

Main Methods:

• Fabrication of a CEME device using polymethyl methacrylate (PMMA) with microfluidic channels.
• Utilized a polypropylene membrane impregnated with an organic solvent.
• Employed a d.c. potential for analyte migration and HPLC-UV for detection.
• Optimized key extraction parameters including flow rates and applied voltage.

Main Results:

• Achieved preconcentration factors greater than 15 for all analytes.
• Demonstrated linear calibration curves in the range of 10-500 μg/L with high linearity (r² > 0.9982).
• Reported relative standard deviation (RSD%) below 7.1% and limits of detection (LODs) below 5.0 μg/L.

Conclusions:

• The developed CEME system provides an efficient and sensitive method for simultaneous extraction of diverse analytes.
• CEME is a promising technique for the analysis of acidic and basic compounds in complex biological matrices.
• The microfluidic approach offers advantages in terms of sample and solvent consumption.