A new, facile and efficient agarose gel based electromembrane extraction for preconcentration, clean up and determination of propranolol in blood serum

In obtaining more reliable results regarding the procedure type, a suitable sample preparation technique is required for preconcentration and cleanup of the real samples [1-2]. Herein, for the first time a new, rapid and efficient method was developed to determine a drug named propranolol in blood serum, using agarose gel based electromembrane extraction technique (AG-EME). In order to facilitate the migration of propranolol from sample solution through agarose gel membrane, an electrical driving force was used. The variables influencing the extraction efficiency were electrical field voltage (V), amount of agarose in membrane (w/v%), amount of acetic acid in membrane (w/v%), pH of donor (pHd) and acceptor (pHa) phase, and extraction time (min). The first three variables were investigated based on one variable at a time. The other variables were modeled and optimized utilizing response surface methodology (RSM). Based on the non-linear Nelder-Mead optimization, at pHd=7.9 and pHa=3.3 with extraction time of 37 min, the maximum predicted extraction efficiency (98.8±2.2) was in agreement with the experimentally acquired value (99.2±7.0). Limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) were 0.09 and 0.29 μg mL˗1, respectively. The method was used to determine the propranolol drug in the blood serum sample at different concentration levels.