combination of magnetic dispersive solid phase extraction and liquid–liquid microextraction followed by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry as an efficient analytical method for the quantification of some antidepressant drugs in biological fluids

The term depression describes a mood disorder that causes a strong sense of sadness and a lack of interest. various factors are contributing to the increase in antidepressant drug consumption today, including economic stress and emotional problems [1]. a therapeutic drug monitoring program is important in the clinical pharmacology and forensic sciences since it can aid in the effective control of pharmacotherapy and drug poisoning. this point can be more important in the case of anti-depressant drugs (adds) because of their narrow therapeutic range [2]. different methods are used to determine adds in different samples including high performance liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, and ion mobility spectrometry. this study developed a magnetic sorbent for the extraction of four adds, including fluoxetine, amitriptyline, imipramine, and clomipramine. in order to extract the target compounds from plasma and urine, the magnetic fe3o4 nanoparticles coated with graphene were used as sorbent. first, a solution containing analytes and dissolved na2so4 was used to adsorb the tested adds on the sorbent. by using an external magnetic field, the sorbent particles containing the adsorbed analytes were separated from the solution. then acetonitrile was used to desorb the analytes from the sorbent. the eluent containing analytes was separated from the sorbent, mixed with 1,1,2-trichloroethane (at µl level), and quickly injected into an ammonia solution containing dissolved nacl. after centrifuging the formed cloudy solution, an aliquat of the sedimented organic phase was injected into a gas chromatograph equipped with a mass spectrometer.