Combining poly (methacrylic acid-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) monolith microextraction and octadecyl phosphonic acid-modified zirconia-coated CEC with field-enhanced sample injection for analysis of antidepressants in human plasma and urine

A method based on poly (methacrylic acid-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) monolith microextraction and octadecylphosphonic acid-modified zirconia-coated CEC followed by field-enhanced sample injection preconcentration technique was proposed for sensitive CE-UV analysis of six antidepressants (doxepin, clozapine, imipramine, paroxetine, fluoxetine and chlorimipramine) in human plasma and urine. A poly(methacrylic acid-co-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) monolithic capillary column was introduced for the extraction of antidepressants from urine and plasma samples. The hydrophobic main chains and acidic pendant groups of the monolithic column make it a superior material for extraction of basic analytes from aqueous matrix. After extraction, the desorption solvent, which normally provided an excellent medium to ensure direct compatibility for field-enhanced sample injection in CE, was analyzed by CE directly. By the use of alkylphosphonate-modified zirconia-coated CEC for separation of the basic compounds of antidepressants, high separation efficiency and resolution were achieved because that both hydrophobic interaction between analytes and alkylphosphonate-modified zirconia coat and electrophoretic effect work on the separation of antidepressants. The best separation was achieved using a buffer composed of 0.3 M ammonium acetate (adjusted to pH 4.5 with 1 M acetic acid) and 35% ACN v/v, with a temperature and voltage of 20 degrees C and 20 Kv, respectively. By applying both preconcentration procedures, LODs of 11.4-51.5 and 3.7-17.0 mu g/L were achieved for the six antidepressants in human plasma and urine, respectively. Excellent method of reproducibility was found over a linear range of 50-5000 mu g/L in plasma and urine sample.