Synthesis and characterization of pH-sensitive thin-layer molecularly imprinted membranes for selective solid-phase extraction of celecoxib from biological fluids followed by high-performance liquid chromatography with UV detection

Abstract

In this work, the synthesis of thin-layer, pH-sensitive molecularly imprinted membrane using methacrylic acid and maleic acid as functional monomers, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as cross-linker, 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile as initiator, poly (vinylidene fluoride) as porous membrane, and celecoxib as a target molecule have been reported. Different technique analyses characterized the membrane product. A novel molecularly imprinted membrane-solid phase extraction method was used for the extraction of celecoxib and concentrating it prior to be analyzed in the human plasma and urine matrix. High-performance liquid chromatography with ultraviolet detection was used and validated for the analysis of celecoxib which was extracted from biological fluids. The molecularly imprinted membrane showed selective performance for the template, and extraction recoveries of the drug by the membrane from human plasma and urine samples were between 96.2 and 97.3%. The obtained results showed that the detection and quantification limits of the drug were 0.12 and 0.40 ng mL⁻¹, respectively. The adsorption capacity of 4.95 mg g⁻¹ was obtained from the fitting by the Langmuir model. The molecularly imprinted membrane can be easily regenerated eight times with sustained efficiency. Therefore, the developed method can be a good candidate for the separation and detection of celecoxib in biological samples.

GRAPHICAL ABSTRACT

Keywords:

• Biological samples
• celecoxib
• high-performance liquid chromatography
• molecularly imprinted membrane
• solid-phase extraction
• pH sensitive membrane

Acknowledgments

Thanks to References Food and Drug Control Laboratories for excellent technical assistance. We also thank the individuals and institutions that aided our research study.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by the Islamic Azad University Branch of Kerman, Islamic Azad University Central Tehran Branch.