Molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction of cocaine metabolites from aqueous samples

Cocaine is a well-known drug of abuse which, when ingested nasally or by smoking, undergoes a number of biotransformation and degradation reactions. In the present work, a synthetic analogue of the cocaine metabolite benzoylecgonine was prepared and used as a template molecule in the preparation of a series of molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs). Molecularly imprinted solid-phase extraction (MISPE) conditions were established under which benzoylecgonine in aqueous samples could be selectively extracted and quantified at clinically relevant concentrations (μg/ml). Under optimised MISPE conditions, recoveries of analyte were high (>70%) and excellent discrimination between imprinted and non-imprinted materials observed.