Magnetic solid phase extraction coupled with desorption corona beam ionization-mass spectrometry for rapid analysis of antidepressants in human body fluids

• Published in: Analyst (London) Vol. 140; no. 16; pp. 5662 - 5670
• Main Authors: Chen, Di, Zheng, Hao-Bo, Huang, Yun-Qing, Hu, Yu-Ning, Yu, Qiong-Wei, Yuan, Bi-Feng, Feng, Yu-Qi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: England 21.08.2015
• Subjects: Antidepressants; Antidepressive Agents - blood; Antidepressive Agents - urine; Chemistry Techniques, Analytical - methods; Coronas; Desorption; Extraction; Humans; Ionization; Limit of Detection; Magnetics; Mass Spectrometry; Solid Phase Extraction; Spectroscopy; Strategy; Time Factors; Urine
• ISSN: 0003-2654; 1364-5528
• DOI: 10.1039/c5an00992h

Ambient ionization techniques show good potential in rapid analysis of target compounds. However, a direct application of these ambient ionization techniques for the determination of analytes in a complex matrix is difficult due to the matrix interference and ion suppression. To resolve this problem, here we developed a strategy by coupling magnetic solid phase extraction (MSPE) with desorption corona beam ionization (DCBI)-mass spectrometry (MS). As a proof of concept, the pyrrole-coated Fe3O4 magnetic nanoparticles (Fe3O4@Ppy) were prepared and used for the extraction of antidepressants. After extraction, the Fe3O4@Ppy with trapped antidepressants was then directly subjected to DCBI-MS analysis with the aid of a homemade magnetic glass capillary. As the MSPE process is rapid and the direct DCBI-MS analysis does not need solvent desorption or chromatographic separation processes, the overall analysis can be completed within 3 min. The proposed MSPE-DCBI-MS method was then successfully used to determine antidepressants in human urine and plasma. The calibration curves were obtained in the range of 0.005-0.5 μg mL(-1) for urine and 0.02-1 μg mL(-1) for plasma with reasonable linearity (R(2) > 0.951). The limits of detection of three antidepressants were in the range of 0.2-1 ng mL(-1) for urine and 2-5 ng mL(-1) for plasma. Acceptable reproducibility for rapid analysis was achieved with relative standard deviations less than 19.1% and the relative recoveries were 85.2-118.7%. Taken together, the developed MSPE-DCBI-MS strategy offers a powerful capacity for rapid analysis of target compounds in a complex matrix, which would greatly expand the applications of ambient ionization techniques with plentiful magnetic sorbents.