A new technique for sample preparation on-line with liquid chromatographic/tandem mass spectrometric (LC/MS/MS) assay was developed. Microextraction in a packed syringe (MEPS) is a new miniaturized, solid-phase extraction technique that can be connected on-line to gas or liquid chromatography without any modifications. In MEPS approximately 1 mg of the solid packing material is inserted into a syringe (100-250 microl) as a plug. Sample preparation takes place on the packed bed. The bed can be coated to provide selective and suitable sampling conditions. The new method is very promising, very easy to use, fully automated, of low cost and rapid in comparison with previously used methods. This paper presents the development and validation of a method for MEPS on-line with LC/MS/MS. Ropivacaine and its metabolites (PPX and 3-OH-ropivacaine) in human plasma samples were used as model substances. The method was validated and the calibration curves were evaluated by means of quadratic regression and weighted by the inverse of the concentration, 1/x, for the calibration range 2-2000 nM. The applied polymer could be used more than 100 times before the syringe was discarded. The extraction recovery was between 40 and 60%. The results showed high correlation coefficients (R(2) > 0.999) for all analytes in the calibration range studied. The accuracy, expressed as a percentage variation from the nominal concentration values, ranged from 0 to 6%. The precision, expressed as the relative standard deviation, at three different concentrations (quality control samples) was consistently about 2-10%. The limit of quantification was 2 nM.
UV-initiated poly(butyl methacrylate-ethylene glycol dimethacrylate) porous polymer monoliths were prepared in situ in polypropylene-based pipette tips for high-throughput sample preparation. Prior to the in situ polymerization, the surface of the PP tips was modified. In this work, two different surface modification approaches were tested for this purpose. First the photoinitiator benzophenone was used to generate radicals at the surface of PP by hydrogen abstraction. In the second modification approach, a thin layer of a polymer was directly grafted to the surface. The effect of surface modification was measured by contact angle measurements of a drop of water at the surface. As a result of the surface modification, scan electron microscopy images indicate a covalent attachment of the monolith to the wall of the pipette tip. Pipette tips modified with 5% BP in methanol and packed with a plug of monolith were further evaluated for high-throughput sample preparation. Using a liquid handling system, the extraction performance of packed pipette tips was tested for the analysis of ropivacaine in plasma samples. The recovery and reproducibility results were in accordance with internationally accepted criteria for qualitative and quantitative analysis of the test substance, ropivacaine.
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