Chip-based solid-phase extraction pretreatment for direct electrospray mass spectrometry analysis using an array of monolithic columns in a polymeric substrate

An array of eight porous monolithic columns, prepared in a Zeonor polymeric chip by UV-initiated polymerization of butyl methacrylate and ethylene dimethacrylate, was tested for solid-phase extraction (SPE) cleanup of biological samples prior to directly coupled electrospray mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). The chip, fabricated by hot embossing and thermal bonding, consists of eight parallel channels (10 mm long, 360 mum i.d.) connected via external fused-silica capillaries. The monomer mixture was aspirated simultaneously into the eight channels using a homemade vacuum manifold device and polymerized in parallel for 20 min under UV irradiation. The porous monolithic columns were then characterized by scanning electron microscopy and evaluated by ESI-MS applications with respect to sample capacity, recovery, reproducibility of peak area or peak height ratios, and linearity between peak height ratio and concentration using imipramine as a pharmaceutical test compound. The average sample capacity was estimated to be 0.30 mug with a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 26.5% for the eight monolithic columns on the same polymeric chip. For two chips prepared using the same monomer mixture, the difference in average sample capacity was 7.0%. The average recovery for the eight monolithic SPE columns on the same chip was 79.1% with an RSD of 7.9%. Using imipramine-d3 as an internal standard, the RSD of peak height ratios for the eight different columns was 2.0% for a standard solution containing 1 mug/mL imipramine. A linear calibration curve (R-2 = 0.9995) was obtained for standard aqueous solutions of imipramine in the range from 0.025 to 10 mug/mL. To demonstrate the analytical potential of the chip-based SPE system, two different types of real-world samples including human urine sample and P450 drug metabolism incubation mixture were tested. Similar to standard aqueous solution, a linear correlation (R2 = 0.9995) was also found for human urine sample spiked with imipramine in the range of 0.025-10 mug/mL When aliquots of a human urine sample spiked with 1 mug/mL imipramine were loaded onto eight different monolithic columns, the RSD of peak height ratios was 3.8%. For a P450-imipramine incubation mixture, the formation of the N-demethylated metabolite (m/z 267.2) and the monohydroxylated metabolite (m/z 297.2) of imipramine was observed following chip-based monolithic SPE sample cleanup and preconcentration.