Electromembrane extraction of polar basic drugs from plasma with pure bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphite as supported liquid membrane.

Electromembrane extraction (EME) of polar basic drugs from human plasma was investigated for the first time using pure bis(2-ethylhexyl) phosphite (DEHPi) as the supported liquid membrane (SLM). The polar basic drugs metaraminol, benzamidine, sotalol, phenylpropanolamine, ephedrine, and trimethoprim were selected as model analytes, and were extracted from 300 μL of human plasma, through 10 μL of DEHPi as SLM, and into 100 μL of 10 mM formic acid as acceptor solution. The extraction potential across the SLM was 100 V, and extractions were performed for 20 min. After EME, the acceptor solutions were analyzed by high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV). In contrast to other SLMs reported for polar basic drugs in the literature, the SLM of DEHPi was highly stable in contact with plasma, and the system-current across the SLM was easily kept below 50 μA. Thus, electrolysis in the sample and acceptor solution was kept at an acceptable level with no detrimental consequences. For the polar model analytes, representing a log P range from -0.40 to 1.32, recoveries in the range 25-91% were obtained from human plasma. Strong hydrogen bonding and dipole interactions were probably responsible for efficient transfer of the model analytes into the SLM, and this is the first report on efficient EME of highly polar analytes without using any ionic carrier in the SLM.