Molecularly imprinted pipette-tip solid phase extraction for selective determination of fluoroquinolones in human urine using HPLC-DAD

• Syntheses of new MIPs based on poly(methacrylic acid).
• Good sorbent material for fluoroquinolones in biological fluid.
• MIPs feature great application in extraction and separation processes.
• Development of PT-MIPs-SPE in lab for use in sample preparation.

A simple method using HPLC-DAD was developed for the determination of fluoroquinolones in human urine including ciprofloxacin (CIPRO), enrofloxacino (ENRO), marbofloxacino (MARBO) and norfloxacin (NOR). In addition, it was studied the extraction of fluoroquinolones in human urine samples using pipette tip-based molecularly imprinted polymers solid phase extraction (PT-MIPs-SPE). With the goal of finding the best procedure for extraction of four fluoroquinolones in human urine, several parameters that are likely to affect the efficiency of extraction during sample preparation, including the washing solvent, type and volume of eluent, amount of material, the volume of the sample, pH and the ionic strength were systematically optimized. Chromatographic separations of fluoroquinolones were hit within 10 min using a Synergi® C18 (250 × 4.6 mm, 4 μm) column and mobile phase consisting of water (10 mM of phosphoric acid, the pH adjusted at 3.29 with triethylamine) : acetonitrile (85.7: 14.3, v/v) at a flow rate of 1.5 mL min−1. Detection was performed at 290 nm. The average extraction recoveries/standard deviation relative to ENRO, CIPRO, NOR and MARBO were 96.40 ± 5.51%, 42.47 ± 4.81%, 41.82 ± 7.99% and 87.49 ± 4.70, respectively. The method was liner from 39 to 1260 ng mL−1 for each fluoroquinolone with correlation coefficient of 0.9904, 0.9910, 0.9914 and 0.9919, to ENRO, CIPRO, NOR and MARBO, respectively. The assays of within-day and between-day precision and accuracy for all analytes were studied at three concentration levels and were lower than 15%. The method was successfully employed in a preliminary cumulative urinary excretion study after administration of CIPRO to a healthy volunteer.