Molecularly imprinted micro-extraction of pharmaceuticals in biological samples

Abstract

Extraction and analysis of pharmaceuticals from biological samples such as breath, saliva, urine, blood, and tissue sheds light on the pharmacokinetic processes of drugs, thus ensuring personalized dosing management and effective treatment process. Biological samples are quite advantageous as a medium containing target analytes related to various biological and pharmaceutical processes. Still, this situation also includes a selectivity disadvantage due to the complex matrix effect. Therefore, sample preparation and extraction techniques are frequently used to isolate, concentrate, and purify the target analyte. However, in cases where these traditional techniques are insufficient, integrating molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs) with them is a rational solution to increase extraction efficiency and selectivity. It is seen that the target-specific extraction advantage provided by the use of MIPs as sorbents has been evaluated in many studies in the literature. This review study aims to evaluate and discuss the applications of MIP-based microextraction techniques to pharmaceuticals in biological samples. The scope and importance of biological samples and key information about MIP-enhanced micro-extraction techniques are given, and their applications in the literature are discussed from various perspectives.