Simple determination of amphetamine and methamphetamine in complicated matrices by filter-based emulsification microextraction followed by high-performance liquid chromatography

In this work, a filter-based emulsification microextraction method is combined with high-performance liquid chromatography for a fast, simple, and efficient determination of amphetamine and methamphetamine in the human plasma and pharmaceutical wastewater samples. In this method, in order to enhance the extraction speed without the use of a disperser solvent, the extraction solvent is dispersed as fine droplets in the sample solution, and a filtration step completes the extraction process by separation of the extraction phase from the sample solution. This method is centrifuge-free, provides a good sample clean-up, and is totally accomplished in about 60 s. In order to achieve the optimal experimental conditions, the effective parameters involved including the type and volume of the extraction solvent, pH of the sample solution, and ionic strength are thoroughly examined. Under the optimized experimental conditions, the calibration curves were obtained in the range of 3-2000 ng mL(-1). The relative standard deviations for the method were in the range of 7.1-9.2% and the limits of detection ranged between 1.0 and 1.5 ng mL(-1).