Evaluation of an Experimentally Designed Molecular Imprinted Polyurethane Foam Performance for Extraction of Alprazolam

Abstract

Industrial polyurethane rigid foam (PUF) was selected as a substrate for selective solid phase extraction of Alprazolam. Effective parameters for raising selectivity of the PUF were evaluated. Synthetic molecularly imprinted polyurethane foam (MIPUF) was tracked as selective adsorbent and its characteristic was pondered by analytical methods. Optimization was done by central composite design (CCD) to have high efficiency of the polymer adsorption. Two different extraction methods were compared in the selective adsorption processes using MIPUF and NIPUF, batch system and continuous (cartridge) system. Results of the adsorption of alprazolam on the MIPUF had 39% more recovery than NIPUF (reference polymer). Then, the proposed method suggests a selective extraction of mentioned analyte from urine and tablets as complex matrixes.