Efficient strategy for the selective determination of dopamine in human urine by molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction

An efficient molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction protocol was developed for the separation of dopamine (DA) from human urine. After successful validation of the analytical method using high-performance liquid chromatography coupled with fluorescence detection, a new strategy for the selective determination of DA in the presence of norepinephrine and epinephrine in human urine was presented. In the proposed protocol, the LODs and quantification for DA were 166 ± 36 and 500 ± 110 nmol/L, respectively, and the total recoveries of DA in the range of 1-15 μmol/L varied between 98.3 and 101.1%. DA was detected in the real urine samples at the level of 47-167 μg/L (0.250-0.895 μmol/L). The superiority of the novel analytical strategy was shown by comparison with the results obtained for a commercially available imprinted sorbent.