Selective solid-phase extraction using molecularly imprinted polymers for analysis of venlafaxine, O-desmethylvenlafaxine, and N-desmethylvenlafaxine in plasma samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

This paper focuses on the development of a novel miniaturized molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) and ultra high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) method to determine venlafaxine (VEN), O-desmethylvenlafaxine (ODV), and N-desmethylvenlafaxine (NDV) in plasma samples. The molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) was prepared by the precipitation polymerization approach; VEN, metacrylic acid, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate, 2,2-azobisisobutyronitrile, and toluene were used as template, monomer, crosslinker, initiator, and porogen solvent, respectively. MIP and of the non-imprinted control polymer (NIP) sorbents were characterized by Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. MIP phase presented higher extraction efficiency (MISPE, using plasma samples spiked with VEN) than the NIP phase (84 and 49% recovery rates, respectively). Analysis of other antidepressants with different chemical structures by MISPE-UHPLC-MS/MS attested to the selectivity of the developed MIP. The developed method presented precision assays with coefficients of variation (CV) smaller than 15%; accuracy assays with relative standard error (RSE%) values ranging from -12 to 16%, and linear ranges from 3 to 700ngmL(-1) for VEN, from 5 to 700ngmL(-1) for ODV, and from 3 to 500ngmL(-1) for NDV. The coefficients of determination (r(2)) were higher than 0.995. The lack-of-fit test also attested to the linearity of this method. This method was successfully applied to determine VEN, NDV, and ODV in plasma samples from depressed patients undergoing therapy with VEN.

Hybrid silica monolith for microextraction by packed sorbent to determine drugs from plasma samples by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry.

The present study (1) reports on the synthesis of two hybrid silica monoliths functionalized with aminopropyl or cyanopropyl groups by the sol-gel process; (2) evaluates these monoliths as selective stationary phase for microextraction by packed sorbent (MEPS) to determine drugs in plasma samples via liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in the multiple reactions monitoring (MRM) mode; and (3) discusses important factors related to the optimization of MEPS efficiency as well as the carryover effect. The prepared hybrid silica monoliths consisted of a uniform, porous, and continuous silica monolithic network. The structure of the aminopropyl hybrid silica monolith was more compact than the structure of the cyanopropyl hybrid silica monolith. The Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) spectra of the hybrid silica monoliths displayed readily identifiable peaks, characteristic of the cyanopropyl and aminopropyl groups. Compared with the aminopropyl hybrid silica phase, the cyanopropyl hybrid silica phase exhibited higher binding capacity for most of the target drugs. The developed method afforded adequate linearity at concentrations ranging from the lower limit of quantification (0.05-1.00 ng mL(-1)) to the upper limit of quantification (40-10,500 ng mL(-1)); the coefficients of determination (r(2)) were higher than 0.9955. The precision of the method presented coefficients of variation (CV) lower than 14%; the relative standard error (RSE) of the accuracy ranged from -12% to 14%. The developed method allowed for simultaneous analysis of five antipsychotics (olanzapine, quetiapine, clozapine, haloperidol, and chlorpromazine) in combination with seven antidepressants (mirtazapine, paroxetine, citalopram, sertraline, imipramine, clomipramine, fluoxetine), two anticonvulsants (carbamazepine and lamotrigine), and two anxiolytics (diazepam and clonazepam) in plasma samples from schizophrenic patients, which should be valuable for therapeutic drug monitoring purposes.

Detection of roasted and ground coffee adulteration by HPLC and by amperometric and by post-column derivatization UV-Vis detection.

Coffee is one of the most consumed beverages in the world. Due to its commercial importance, the detection of impurities and foreign matters has been a constant concern in fraud verification, especially because it is difficult to percept adulterations with the naked eye in samples of roasted and ground coffee. In Brazil, the most common additions are roasted materials, such as husks, sticks, corn, wheat middling, soybean, and more recently - acai palm seeds. The performance and correlation of two chromatographic methods, HPLC-HPAEC-PAD and post-column derivatization HPLC-UV-Vis, were compared for carbohydrate analysis in coffee samples. To verify the correlation between the two methods, the principal component analysis for the same mix of triticale and acai seeds in different proportions with coffee was employed. The performance for detecting adulterations in roasted and ground coffee of the two methods was compared.