Magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles for the solid-phase extraction of paracetamol from plasma samples, followed its determination by HPLC

We are presenting magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer nanoparticles (m-MIPs) for solid-phase extraction and sample clean-up of paracetamol. The m-MIPs were prepared from magnetite (Fe3O4) as the magnetic component, paracetamol as the template, methacrylic acid as a functional monomer, and 2-(methacrylamido) ethyl methacrylate as a cross-linker. The m-MIPs were then characterized by transmission electron microscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, X-ray diffraction and vibrating sample magnetometry. The m-MIPs were applied to the extraction of paracetamol from human blood plasma samples. Following its elution from the column loaded with the m-MIPs with an acetonitrile-buffer (9:1) mixture, it was submitted to HPLC analysis. Paracetamol can be quantified by this method in the 1 μg L−1 to 300 μg L−1 concentration range. The limit of detection and limit of quantification in plasma samples are 0.17 and 0.4 μg L−1. The preconcentration factor of the m-MIPs is 40. The HPLC method shows good precision (4.5 % at 50 μg L−1 levels) and recoveries (between 83 and 91 %) from spiked plasma samples.