Nano-sized magnetic core-shell and bulk molecularly imprinted polymers for selective extraction of amiodarone from human plasma

Bulk and magnetic core-shell Molecularly Imprinted Polymers (MMIPs) have been introduced and compared to extract and determine amiodarone from a complex matrix, i.e., plasma, due to the importance of Therapeutic Drug Monitoring (TDM). Polymer synthesis was confirmed by FTIR, AFM, TGA, DLS, VSM, TEM, and the adsorption studies such as capacity, isothermal models, selectivity, and regeneration were performed to evaluate and compare polymer efficiency in extraction and separation of amiodarone from sample solutions and human plasma. Both nano-sized and bulk polymers successfully extracted the target molecule at the low therapeutic ranges and the overdose concentrations (recoveries of 98.38%–102.70%). The maximum adsorption capacity of the MMIPs was 42.5 μg/mg compared with 2.6 μg/mg for bulk polymers. The imprinting factors of the polymers were 15.12 and 6.84 for MMIPs and bulk, respectively. MMIPs and bulk polymers presented 4.68 and 1.66 selectivity factors, respectively, towards amiodarone compared with lidocaine. LOD, LOQ, and enrichment factor in human plasma were 0.09, 0.28 μg mL⁻¹, and 10 respectively. Recoveries of therapeutic concentration from plasma were 91.38 and 97.33% for bulk and MMIPs, respectively. MMIPs as an adsorbent in amiodarone extraction from plasma offered reduced necessary sample amount, less adsorbent consumption, reduced pretreatment time, and reduced elution solvent waste while yielding higher extraction recovery and more specificity for the target compared with the bulk polymer. Bulk polymers have a more straightforward synthesis procedure due to fewer synthesis steps and fewer variables, and Molecularly Imprinted Polymer Solid-phase Extraction (MIP-SPE) has already been introduced commercially. MMIPs prevail on a small scale, and in the context of a simple extraction, separation, or concentration in large-scale bioanalysis, efforts towards optimization and development of MMIPs can unearth tremendous opportunities for green chemistry principles.