A molecularly imprinted polymer coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography-UV for the determination of albendazole in plasma and urine samples: CCD-RSM design

Abstract

The present study attempted to develop a fast and sensitive ultrasound-assisted-dispersive-micro-solid phase extraction (UA-D-μ-SPE) method for the separation and preconcentration of albendazole (ABZ) from plasma and urine samples, using a molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) coupled with high-performance liquid chromatography-UV (HPLC-UV). An MIP was selected as a sorbent, and the main factors viz. pH, MIP mass, sonication time, and eluent volume were optimized using CCD-RSM (central composite design-response surface methodology). Under the optimum conditions, the method showed the detection limit of 1.46, quantification of 4.86, and linear range of 10.0–6000.0 ng mL⁻¹. The relative standard deviation and the relative recoveries of ABZ from spiked plasma and urine samples at five concentration levels (20, 50, 100, 500, and 1000 ng mL⁻¹) were in the ranges of 1.43–5.21% and 92.48–101.40%, respectively. The kinetic sorption curve indicated that six min was sufficient to achieve sorption equilibrium for MIPNPs (MIP nanoparticles). The maximum sorption capacity was 34.9 mg g⁻¹. All these results strongly support the high efficiency, selectivity, and sensitivity of the developed method for determining ABZ in plasma and urine samples.