Extraction of salbutamol using co-sintered molecularly imprinted polymers as a new format of solid-phase extraction

Abstract

A salbutamol-specific molecularly imprinted polymer was developed using computational modelling. The performance of the polymer was evaluated in model solutions as well as in the blood plasma. The polymer specificity was characterised using functional and structural analogues of salbutamol. The solid-phase extraction of salbutamol was further optimised by entrapping obtained polymeric microparticles within a porous polyethylene network using a co-sintering process. The obtained composite frits were tested and analysed upon the adsorption of salbutamol from blood plasma samples. Among the advantages of a new SPE format presented here is the possibility of performing the separation process more effectively, which is especially important for the analysis of low-volume samples.