Experiences with Carrier-Mediated Transport in Liquid-Phase Microextraction

Different organic borates, phosphates, sulphates, and carboxylic acids are evaluated as extraction carriers in three-phase liquid phase microextraction (LPME). Hydrophilic basic drugs form ion pairs with the carriers and are extracted as ion-pair complexes into an organic liquid membrane of n-octanol or peppermint oil immobilized in the pores of a polypropylene hollow fiber. From this point, the basic drugs are released into a 20-µL solution of 50mM HCl placed inside the lumen of the hollow fiber (acceptor solution). Simultaneously, the carrier is neutralized by protons from the acceptor solution (protonated to maintain the charge balance). Both water-soluble and water-insoluble carriers are tested. One promising candidate among the water-soluble carriers is 1-heptanesulfonic acid. This is added to the sample solution to a final concentration of 25mM and served to ion-pair the analytes within the sample solution. Among the less water-soluble candidates, a mixture of di(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (DEHP) and tris(2-ethylhexyl) phosphate (TEHP) serve as efficient carriers. Ten percent (w/w) of each of DEHP and TEHP are added to the organic liquid membrane, and these carriers principally worked through ion-pairing with the analytes at the interface between the sample solution and the organic liquid membrane. Several carriers are found to be compatible with human plasma samples, and bromthymol blue is particularly efficient in combination with these protein-containing matrices. Following optimization of the conditions for bromthymol blue, including saturation of the plasma samples with sodium sulphate, extraction recoveries between 45% and 75% are obtained for eight model drugs after 60 min of extraction. With bromthymol blue as the carrier, highly acceptable validation data are obtained for phenylpropanolamine and practolol extracted from human plasma.