Sugaring-out assisted electromembrane extraction of basic drugs from biological fluids: Improving the efficiency and...

In the current study, for the first time, the sugaring-out effect was assessed in a conventional electromembrane extraction (EME) system. Utilizing the sugars in the donor solution as green additives can result in production of a pioneering and influential EME mode. Sugaring-out assisted electromembrane extraction was combined with high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) to enhance the extraction of four basic model drugs (pseudoephedrine, lidocaine, propranolol, and ketoconazole). In this mode of EME, not only the transfer of analytes through the supported liquid membrane (SLM) was improved, but also the whole extraction system became more stable than the conventional one in the same voltage. The type and concentration of sugars were optimized in addition to the common experimental parameters influencing the EME, and figures of merit were also studied. Under the optimum conditions, repeatability (RSD%) was obtained in the range of 2.8-6.9% in the water, while RSD value was obtained in the range of 8.2-11.8% (n = 3) for conventional EME with the same state. The linearity range was also in the interval of 5.0-1000.0 ng mL^-1 and limits of quantification and detection were in the ranges of 5.0-10.0 ng mL^-1 and 1.5-3.0 ng mL^-1, respectively, in the introduced EME. Extraction recoveries in the range of 41.2 and 80.8% were obtained resulting in enrichment factors in the range of 96-189. In light of such factor, new suggested EME mode was assessed in the real biological samples including human plasma and urine in order to prove the sugaring-out efficiency in EME systems.