A New Potentiometric Sensor for Determination and Screening Phenylalanine in Blood Serum Based on Molecularly Imprinted Polymer.

Methods routinely utilized for detection of phenylalanine in new-born blood consist of enzymatic assays, lacking sensitivity and HPLC assays which are expensive and time-consuming to conduct. We, here, report for the first time, the construction of a phenylalanine sensitive electrode, on the basis of a selective molecularly imprinted polymer, offering sensitivity, economy and ease of use for the measurement of phenylalanine .The sensor was constructed of a graphite-rod electrode which was coated by MIP embedded polymer base made from polyvinyl chloride and plasticizer mixture, dissolved in THF. At optimized conditions the electrode revealed a Nernstian response 29.73 ± 1.0 mV decade-1 in a concentration range of 1 × 10⁻8 to 1 × 10-4 M with detection limit of 5 × 10⁻9 M. The potential response of the electrode was constant in the pH range of 4.0-7.5. The electrode unfolded a response time of ~20 sec. The selectivity coefficient of the sensor towards a number of different amino acids with molecular similarities and some metal ions was evaluated. The sensor was successfully used for determination of phenylalanine in blood serum and the results were in good compatibility with HPLC method.

Preconcentration and Determination of Mefenamic Acid in Pharmaceutical and Biological Fluid Samples by Polymer-grafted Silica Gel Solid-phase Extraction Following High Performance Liquid Chromatography.

Mefenamic acid is a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug (NSAID) that has analgesic, anti-infammatory and antipyretic actions. It is used to relieve mild to moderate pains. Solid-phase extraction of mefenamic acid by a polymer grafted to silica gel is reported. Poly allyl glycidyl ether/iminodiacetic acid-co-N, N-dimethylacrylamide was synthesized and grafted to silica gel and was used as an adsorbent for extraction of trace mefenamic acid in pharmaceutical and biological samples. Different factors affecting the extraction method were investigated and optimum conditions were obtained. The optimum pH value for sorption of mefenamic acid was 4.0. The sorption capacity of grafted adsorbent was 7.0 mg/g. The best eluent solvent was found to be trifluoroacetic acid-acetic acid in methanol with a recovery of 99.6%. The equilibrium adsorption data of mefenamic acid by grafted silica gel was analyzed by Langmuir model. The conformation of obtained data to Langmuir isotherm model reveals the homogeneous binding sites of grafted silica gel surface. Kinetic study of the mefenamic acid sorption by grafted silica gel indicates the good accessibility of the active sites in the grafted polymer. The sorption rate of the investigated mefenamic acid on the grafted silica gel was less than 5 min. This novel synthesized adsorbent can be successfully applied for the extraction of trace mefenamic acid in human plasma, urine and pharmaceutical samples.

Selective cloud point extraction for the spectrophotometric determination of cetylpyridinium chloride in pharmaceutical formulations.

In this work, we developed a simple and selective method for separation and spectrophotometric determination of trace amounts of cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC) in pharmaceutical products using cloud point extraction (CPE) technique. The method is based on cloud point extraction of the CPC in alkali conditions using of nonionic surfactant Triton X-114. Under optimal conditions, the calibration graph was linear in the range of 0.50-30 µg/ mL of CPC with r=0.9993 (n=10). Average recoveries for spiked samples were determined to be between 95-104%. The relative standard deviation (RSD) for 5.0 µg/mL of CPC was 1.86 % (n=10). Also, the use of micellar extraction for extracting CPC was enhanced the molar absorptivity (ε) from 1.83×10(3) L/mol.cm in aqueous solution to 1.539×10(4) L/mol.cm in surfactant-rich phase. The proposed method was applied for the determination of CPC in a commercial mouth washer product.