Three-phase hollow-fiber liquid-phase microextraction based on deep eutectic solvent as acceptor phase for extraction and preconcentration of main active compounds in a traditional Chinese medicinal formula.

A three-phase hollow-fiber liquid-phase microextraction based on deep eutectic solvent as acceptor phase was developed and coupled with high-performance capillary electrophoresis for the simultaneous extraction, enrichment, and determination of main active compounds (hesperidin, honokiol, shikonin, magnolol, emodin, and β,β'-dimethylacrylshikonin) in a traditional Chinese medicinal formula. In this procedure, two hollow fibers, impregnated with n-heptanol/n-nonanol (7:3, v/v) mixture in wall pores as the extraction phase and a combination (9:1, v/v) of methyltrioctylammonium chloride/glycerol (1:3, n/n) and methanol in lumen as the acceptor phase, were immersed in the aqueous sample phase. The target analytes in the sample solution were first extracted through the organic phase, and further back-extracted to the acceptor phase during the stirring process. Important extraction parameters such as types and composition of extraction solvent and deep eutectic solvent, sample phase pH, stirring rate, and extraction time were investigated and optimized. Under the optimal conditions, detection limits were 0.3-0.8 ng/mL with enrichment factors of 6-114 for the analytes and linearities of 0.001-13 μg/mL (r ≥ 0.9901). The developed method was successfully applied to the simultaneous extraction and concentration of the main active compounds in a formula of Zi-Cao-Cheng-Qi decoction with the major advantages of convenience, effectiveness, and environmentally friendliness.