Polycaprolactone Composite Micro/Nanofibrous Material as an Alternative to Restricted Access Media for Direct Extraction and Separation of Non-Steroidal Anti-Inflammatory Drugs from Human Serum Using Column-Switching Chromatography

Application of the poly-ɛ-caprolactone composite sorbent consisting of the micro- and nanometer fibers for the on-line extraction of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs from a biological matrix has been introduced. A 100 μL human serum sample spiked with ketoprofen, naproxen, sodium diclofenac, and indomethacin was directly injected in the extraction cartridge filled with the poly-ɛ-caprolactone composite sorbent. This cartridge was coupled with a chromatographic instrument via a six-port switching valve allowing the analyte extraction and separation within a single analytical run. The 1.5 min long extraction step isolated the analytes from the proteinaceous matrix was followed by their 13 min HPLC separation using Ascentis Express RP-Amide (100 × 4.6 mm, 5 µm) column. The recovery of all analytes from human serum tested at three concentration levels ranged from 70.1% to 118.7%. The matrix calibrations were carried out in the range 50 to 20,000 ng mL(−1) with correlation coefficients exceeding 0.996. The detection limit was 15 ng mL(−1), and the limit of quantification corresponded to 50 ng mL(−1). The developed method was validated and successfully applied for the sodium diclofenac determination in real patient serum. Our study confirmed the ability of the poly-ɛ-caprolactone composite sorbent to remove the proteins from the biological matrix, thus serving as an alternative to the application of restricted-access media.