Rapid detection and speciation of illicit drugs via a thin-film microextraction approach for wastewater-based epidemiology study

Magnetic polyoxometalate composite stabilized on the woven cotton yarn as a sorbent for thin film microextraction of some selected nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs followed by high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection

A new thin film was fabricated using Fe3O4@SiO2-polyoxometalate (POM) as the coating and it was coupled with a HPLC-UV to develop a method for the selective determination of ibuprofen, paracetamol and diclofenac (as the model analytes) from human plasma and urine samples. The prepared magnetic POM was coated on the pores and surface of cotton yarn to prepare the extracting device. The prepared sorbent was characterized by several techniques including: FT-IR, XRD, BET, SEM, and VSM analysis. Using a multivariate optimization strategy (Plackett-Berman design (PBD) and Box-Behnken Design (BBD)), extraction factors were optimized. The optimal condition is: pH=4, extraction time=23 min, desorption time=3 min, desorption volume=400 µL, and Na2SO4 concentration=0.8 %. In the optimal condition, the linearity of the method was in the range of 0.5-200 µg l-1. LODs, LOQs, and intra-day as well as inter-day RSDs were <0.24 µg L-1, 0.81 µg L-1, and 4.1 %, respectively. The enrichment factor (EF) values for the tested substances varied from 16 to 21. The absolute recoveries (ARs%) were also between 64 and 84 %. The sorbent extracted the analytes up to 32 times with little changes in the ER (95 ± 1.5). This method was successfully applied to detect target analytes in biological fluids, achieving high recovery. This novel approach combines efficiency with practicality, making it well-suited for field applications. In addition, the greenness and whiteness of the method (sustainability assessment) were evaluated using the qualitative green assessment tools including AGREE, BAGI and the white analytical chemistry assessment tool (RGB12). The high BAGI (72.5) and RGB 12 (94.7) scores confirmed the method's strong applicability, cost-effectiveness, and sustainability.

A fast solid-phase microextraction scheme for in vivo monitoring of bio-accumulation and bio-transformation of arbidol in living plants

Large quantity of the antiviral drug arbidol is used for resisting virus infection like the Corona Virus Disease 2019 and influenza, resulting in unanticipated environmental pollution. Herein, to investigate the environmental risks of the unanticipated arbidol contamination, a novel in vivo sampling probe was developed based on a bromo-substituted porous organic polymer (Br-POP) and then adopted for tracking the bio-accumulation and bio-transformation of arbidol in living plants by coupling with a nano-electrospray ionization fourier-transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (Nano-ESI-FT-ICR-MS) method. The established method showed good extraction performance towards arbidol with limit of detection (LOD) of 0.48 ng g-1, and relative standard deviation (RSD) of single-and multiple- probe of 2.2 and 14 %. Owing to the interactions between the Br-POP and the target analytes, as well as the fast analysis process of Nano-ESI-FT-ICR-MS, <6 min was cost for total sampling and analysis duration, achieving hourly tracking of arbidol and its metabolites in this work. During 21-d in vivo tracking, the concentration of arbidol in living plant stems increased rapidly within 6 h and peaked at 413.93 ± 47.09 ng g-1. Meanwhile, it was found that dissolved organic matters (DOM) had significant effect on arbidol behaviors in living plants, resulting in a decrease of the maximum concentration of arbidol in plant stems (152.70 ± 42.44 ng g-1) and the change of dominant metabolite of arbidol that the S-oxidation rather than N-demethylation product of arbidol was dominant with DOM participation. Additionally, the plant root secretion was found to be significantly altered by arbidol exposure. To summarized, the combination of in vivo SPME and the FT-ICR-MS analysis provide new and important information regarding arbidol contamination and related alternation of plant root metabolism.

New Materials for Thin-Film Solid-Phase Microextraction (TF-SPME) and Their Use for Isolation and Preconcentration of Selected Compounds from Aqueous, Biological and Food Matrices

Determination of a broad spectrum of analytes, carried out with analytical instruments in samples with complex matrices, including environmental, biological, and food samples, involves the development of new and selective sorption phases used in microextraction techniques that allow their isolation from the matrix. SPME solid-phase microextraction is compatible with green analytical chemistry among the sample preparation techniques, as it reduces the use of toxic organic solvents to the minimum necessary. Over the past two decades, it has undergone impressive progress, resulting in the development of the thin-film solid-phase microextraction technique, TF-SPME (the thin-film solid-phase microextraction), which is characterized by a much larger surface area of the sorption phase compared to that of the SPME fiber. TF-SPME devices, in the form of a mostly rectangular metal or polymer substrate onto which a thin film of sorption phase is applied, are characterized, among others, by a higher sorption capacity. In comparison with microextraction carried out on SPME fiber, they enable faster microextraction of analytes. The active phase on which analyte sorption occurs can be applied to the substrate through techniques such as dip coating, spin coating, electrospinning, rod coating, and spray coating. The dynamic development of materials chemistry makes it possible to use increasingly advanced materials as selective sorption phases in the TF-SPME technique: polymers, conducting polymers, molecularly imprinted polymers, organometallic frameworks, carbon nanomaterials, aptamers, polymeric ionic liquids, and deep eutectic solvents. Therefore, TF-SPME has been successfully used to prepare analytical samples to determine a broad spectrum of analytes in sample matrices: environmental, biological, and food. The work will be a review of the above-mentioned issues.

Magnetic Liposomes Infused with GPCR-Expressing Cell Membrane for Targeted Extraction Using Minimum Organic Solvent: An Investigative Study of Trace THC in Sewage

Trace analysis of lipophilic substances in complex environmental, food, or biological matrices has proven to be a challenge, on account of their high susceptibility to adsorption by particulate matter and liquid-solid interfaces. For this purpose, liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) is often employed as the separation method, which uses water-immiscible organic solvents. As an alternative, magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) allows for adsorption, separation, and recovery of analytes from large volumes of aqueous samples with minimum usage of organic solvents. However, the poor selectivity hampers its performance in various scenarios, especially in sewage samples where complicated and unpredictable interference exists, resulting in block of the active adsorption sites of the sorbent. To this end, we propose receptor-affinity MSPE employing magnetic liposomes decorated with cell membranes expressing G-protein-coupled receptor as the sorbents. Application of the novel sorbent CM@Lip@Fe infused with CB1 cannabinoid receptors was demonstrated for the targeted extraction and enrichment of tetrahydrocannabinol from sewage matrix. Thanks to the high affinity and molecular selectivity of the ligand-receptor interactions, a limit of quantitation of 5.17 ng/L was achieved coupled with HPLC-MS/MS in unfiltered raw sewage, featuring minimum usage of organic solvents, fivefold enhanced sensitivity, low sorbent dosage (75 mg/L of sewage), and high efficiency as major advantages over conventional LLE. This work establishes a framework for efficient separation of specific molecules from complex media, thus promising to extend and refine standard LLE as the clean-up procedure for trace analysis.

Trends and challenges in analytical chemistry for multi-analysis of illicit drugs employing wastewater-based epidemiology

Wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) for quantification of illicit drug biomarkers (IDBs) in wastewater samples is an effective tool that can provide information about drug consumption. The most commonly quantified IDBs belong to different chemical classes, including cocaine, amphetamine-type stimulants, opioids, and cannabinoids, so the different chemical properties of these molecules pose a challenge in the development of analytical methods for multi-analyte analysis. Recent workflows include the steps of sampling and storage, sample preparation using solid-phase extraction (SPE) or without extraction, and quantification of analytes employing gas or liquid chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry. The greatest difficulty is due to the fact that wastewater samples are complex chemical mixtures containing analytes with different chemical properties, often present at low concentrations. Therefore, in the development of analytical methods, there is the need to simplify and optimize the analytical workflows, reducing associated uncertainties, analysis times, and costs. The present work provides a critical bibliographic survey of studies published from the year 2020 until now, highlighting the challenges and trends of published analytical workflows for the multi-analysis of IDBs in wastewater samples, considering sampling and sample preparation, method validation, and analytical techniques.