Selective enrichment and determination of monoamine neurotransmitters by CU(II) immobilized magnetic solid phase extraction coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection

•Cu(II) immobilized Fe3O4 was used for enrichment of biological monoamine.•Monoamine neurotransmitters (MNTs) were selectively enriched in acidic solution.•The acidic enrichment condition improved the recovery of MNTs.

In this paper, iminodiacetic acid-Cu(II) functionalized Fe3O4@SiO2 magnetic nanoparticles were prepared and used as new adsorbents for magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) of six monoamine neurotransmitters (MNTs) from rabbit plasma. The selective enrichment of MNTs at pH 5.0 was motivated by the specific coordination interaction between amino groups of MNTs and the immobilized Cu(II). The employed weak acidic extraction condition avoided the oxidation of MNTs, and thus facilitated operation and ensured higher recoveries. Under optimal conditions, the recoveries of six MNTs from rabbit plasma were in the range of 83.9–109.4%, with RSD of 2.0–10.0%. When coupled the Cu(II) immobilized MSPE with high-performance liquid chromatography-fluorescence detection, the method exhibited relatively lower detection limits than the previously reported methods, and the method was successfully used to determine the endogenous MNTs in rabbit plasma. The proposed method has potential application for the determination of MNTs in biological samples. Also, the utilization of coordination interaction to improve the selectivity might open another way to selectively enrich small alkaloids from complex samples.

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