Selective extraction of morphine from biological fluids by magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers and determination using UHPLC with diode array detection

Abstract

The determination of morphine concentration in the blood and urine is necessary for patients and recruitment purposes. Herein, a magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer for selective and efficient extraction of morphine from biological samples was synthesized by using a core-shell method. Fe₃ O₄ nanoparticles were coated with SiO₂ -NH₂ . The molecularly imprinted polymer was coated on the Fe₃ O₄ /SiO₂ -NH₂ surface by the copolymerization of methacrylic acid and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate in the presence of morphine as the template molecule. The morphological and magnetic properties of the polymer were investigated. Field-emission scanning electron microscopy indicated that the prepared magnetic polymer is almost uniform. The saturation magnetization values of Fe₃ O₄ nanoparticles, Fe₃ O₄ /SiO₂ -NH₂ , and the magnetic polymer were 48.41, 31.69, and 13.02 emu/g, respectively, indicating that all the particles are superparamagnetic. Kinetics of the adsorption of morphine on magnetic polymer were well described by second-order kinetic and adsorption processes and well fitted by the Langmuir adsorption isotherm, in which the maximum adsorption capacity was calculated as 28.40 mg/g. The recoveries from plasma and urine samples were in the range of 84.9-105.5 and 94.9-102.8%, respectively. By using the magnetic molecularly imprinted polymer, morphine can selectively, reliably, and in low concentration be determined in biological samples with high-performance liquid chromatography and UV detection.

Keywords: magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers; morphine; selective extraction.