Chitosan grafted onto Fe3O4@poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) as a new sorbent for detecting Imatinib mesylate in biosamples using UPLC-MS/MS.

Fe3O4 nanoparticles with chitosan grafted onto poly(N-vinylcaprolactam) copolymers are synthesized and showed dual sensitivity to temperature and pH. The nanoparticles were characterized by different techniques and two aspects of their applications were evaluated using Imatinib mesylate drug as a model. The first studied application of these nanoparticles was the extraction and pre-concentration of Imatinib mesylate from biological samples. Parameters such as sorbent dosage and extraction and desorption time can affect Imatinib mesylate extraction and were studied by Box-Behnken design and response surface methodology, while the one-factor-at-a-time approach was used to assessed the sample pH and elution solvent type and amount. The determination and quantification were accomplished by ultra-performance liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry. The limit of quantification of the approach was 1.0 ng mL-1. Inter/intraday precision was obtained as 3.4-6.7% and 5.1-7.7%, respectively. Also, the modified nanoparticles were studied in basic in vitro drug delivery research which led to satisfactory results.