Silica-coated magnetic iron oxide functionalized with hydrophobic polymeric ionic liquid: a promising nanoscale sorbent for simultaneous extraction of antidiabetic drugs from human plasma prior to their quantitation by HPLC.

Herein, silica-coated iron oxide nanoparticles modified with imidazolium-based polymeric ionic liquid (FeO@SiO@PIL) were fabricated as a sustainable sorbent for magnetic solid-phase extraction (MSPE) and simultaneous determination of trace antidiabetic drugs in human plasma by high-performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV). The FeO core was functionalized by silica (SiO) and vinyl layers where the ionic liquid 1-vinyl-3-octylimidazolium bromide (VOIM-Br) was attached through a free radical copolymerization process. In order to achieve hydrophobic magnetic nanoparticles and increase the merits of the sorbent, Br anions were synthetically replaced with PF . The properties and morphology of the sorbent were characterized by various techniques and all the results illustrated the prosperous synthesis of FeO@SiO@PIL. A comprehensive study was carried out to investigate and optimize various parameters affecting the extraction efficiency. The limit of detection (LOD, S/N = 3) for empagliflozin, metformin and canagliflozin was 1.3, 6.0 and 0.8 ng mL, respectively. Linearity (0.997 ≥ ≥ 0.993) and linear concentration ranges of 5.0-1200.0, 20.0-1800.0 and 5.0-1000.0 ng mL were obtained for empagliflozin, metformin and canagliflozin, respectively. Intra-assay (3.8-7.5%, = 9) and inter-assay (3.2-8.5%, = 12) precisions as well as accuracies (≤9.1%) displayed good efficiency of the method. Finally, the method was applied for the quantitation of antidiabetic drugs in human plasma after oral administration and main pharmacokinetic data including (h), (ng mL), AUC (ng h mL), AUC (ng h mL), and (h) were evaluated.