Abstract
Human mental disorders can be currently classified as one of the most relevant health topics. Including in this are depression and anxiety, which can affect us at any stage of life, causing economic and social problems. The treatments involve cognitive psychotherapy, and mainly the oral intake of pharmaceutical antidepressants. Therefore, the development of analytical methods for monitoring the levels of these drugs in biological fluids is critical. Considering the current demand for sensitive and automated analytical methods, the coupling between liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry, combined with suitable sample preparation, becomes a useful way to improve the analytical results even more. Herein we present an automated multidimensional method based on high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry using a lab-made, graphene-based capillary extraction column connected to a C8 analytical column to determined five pharmaceutical drugs in urine. A method enhancement was performed by considering the chromatographic separation and the variables of the loading phase, loading time, loading flow, and injection volume. Under optimized conditions, the study reports good linearity with R2 > 0.98, and limits of detection in the range of 0.5–20 µg L−1. Afterward, the method was applied to the direct analysis of ten untreated urine samples, reporting traces of citalopram in one of them. The results suggest that the proposed approach could be a promising alternative that provides direct and fully automated analysis of pharmaceutical drugs in complex biological matrices.
Highlights
Diseases associated with human mental disorders can be currently classified as one of the most emergent topics in medicine
The multidimensional analytical method was composed of two columns connected using the switching valve, which was responsible for steering the flow depending on the purpose
An online automated analytical method based on multidimensional liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry was developed to extract and determine four antidepressants and one antiepileptic drug in human urine
Summary
Diseases associated with human mental disorders can be currently classified as one of the most emergent topics in medicine. Given the lower concentration levels of ADs and the complexity of biological samples, high-performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (HPLC-MS/MS) is not enough to achieve such results; a previous step called sample preparation is often required [12] These procedures are focused on removing interferents from the matrix, and on extracting/pre-concentrating target analytes [13]. Its excellent extractive performance is attributed mainly to the high surface area of the graphene oxide, together with the delocalized π-electron system, which suggests a good affinity with molecules containing aromatic rings like the pharmaceutical drugs analyzed In this case, the π-π interaction is the main interaction mechanism responsible for selective extraction.
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