Direct automatic determination of free and total anesthetic drugs in human plasma by use of a dual (microdialysis-microextraction by packed sorbent) sample treatment coupled at-line to NACE-MS

This paper reports for the first time the use of microextraction by packed sorbent in combination with CE. The combined system was used to determine anesthetic drugs in human plasma. A microdialysis fiber was coupled on-line to the microextraction unit in order to distinguish between free and total concentrations of drugs. The system was automated by connecting the microextraction unit to a syringe pump and interfacing it to a computer. The ensuing method allows the determination of 10 mu g/L concentrations of free drugs and 1 mu g/L concentrations of total drugs from only 200 mu L of sample with an RSD of less than 9%.