Johan Billing

Selective extraction of triazine herbicides based on a combination of membrane assisted solvent extraction and molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction

A selective extraction technique based on the combination of membrane assisted solvent extraction and molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction for triazine herbicides in food samples was developed. Simazine, atrazine, prometon, terbumeton, terbuthylazine and prometryn were extracted from aqueous food samples into a hydrophobic polypropylene membrane bag containing 1000μL of toluene as the acceptor phase along with 100mg of MIP particles. In the acceptor phase, the compounds were re-extracted onto MIP particles. The extraction technique was optimised for the type of organic acceptor solvent, amount of molecularly imprinted polymers particles in the organic acceptor phase, extraction time and addition of salt. Toluene as the acceptor phase was found to give higher triazine binding onto MIP particles compared to hexane and cyclohexane. Extraction time of 120min and 100mg of MIP were found to be optimum parameters. Addition of salt increased the extraction efficiency for more polar triazines. The selectivity of the technique was demonstrated by extracting spiked cow pea and corn extracts where clean chromatograms were obtained compared to only membrane assisted solvent extraction or only molecularly imprinted solid phase extraction. The study revealed that this combination may be a simple way of selectively extracting compounds in complex samples.

Fast identification of selective resins for removal of genotoxic aminopyridine impurities via screening of molecularly imprinted polymer libraries

This study describes the identification and evaluation of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) for the selective removal of potentially genotoxic aminopyridine impurities from pharmaceuticals. Screening experiments were performed using existing MIP resin libraries to identify resins selective towards those impurities in the presence of model pharmaceutical compounds. A hit resin with a considerable imprinting effect was found in the screening and upon further investigation, the resin was found to show a broad selectivity towards five different aminopyridines in the presence of the two model active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) piroxicam and tenoxicam.

Studies towards enantioselective surface imprinted polymers

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) are tailor-made materials that can specifically rebind desired target molecules. Usually, the template is in solution with monomers that form a specific polymeric cavity around the template. Here, a model system with an amino acid (Fmoc-L-Histidine) is presented. This new approach entails the imprinting of templates that are bound to support materials. It is shown that the new approach leads to materials that exhibit symmetric peak shapes for both enantiomers under isocratic conditions.

Solid-phase extraction of the alcohol abuse biomarker phosphatidylethanol using newly synthesized polymeric sorbent materials containing quaternary heterocyclic groups

Phosphatidylethanol (PEth) is an interesting biomarker finding increased use for detecting long term alcohol abuse with high specificity and sensitivity. Prior to detection, sample preparation is an unavoidable step in the work-flow of PEth analysis and new protocols may facilitate it. Solid-phase extraction (SPE) is a versatile sample preparation method widely spread in biomedical laboratories due to its simplicity of use and the possibility of automation. In this work, SPE was used for the first time to directly extract PEth from spiked human plasma and spiked human blood. A library of polymeric SPE materials with different surface functionalities was screened for PEth extraction in order to identify the surface characteristics that control PEth retention and recovery. The plasma samples were diluted 1:10 (v/v) in water and spiked at different concentrations ranging from 0.3 to 5μM. The library of SPE materials was then evaluated using the proposed SPE method and detection was done by LC-MS/MS. One SPE material efficiently retained and recovered PEth from spiked human plasma. With this insight, four new SPE materials were formulated and synthesized based on the surface characteristics of the best SPE material found in the first screening. These new materials were tested with spiked human blood, to better mimic a real clinical sample. All the newly synthetized materials outperformed the pre-existing commercially available materials. Recovery values for the new SPE materials were found between 29.5% and 48.6% for the extraction of PEth in spiked blood. A material based on quaternized 1-vinylimidazole with a poly(trimethylolpropane trimethacrylate) backbone was found suitable for PEth extraction in spiked blood showing the highest analyte recovery in this experiment, 48.6%±6.4%.