Development of novel spme coatings and high-throughput automation of sample preparation for pharmaceutical and clinical samples

Abstract

Increasing the efficiency of the methods used through the development and trial of novel pharmaceutical compounds is an important step to reduce the time required to develop new medical treatments. Before a drug can be used, multiple analyses are required to obtain their physical, chemical and biopharmaceutical properties. The aim of this thesis will be to show that SPME can be an advantageous technique in the field of pharmaceutical development due to its use both as a tool to determine the physical properties of drugs and to facilitate clinical development by easily and cheaply providing high-throughput analysis of compounds in biological fluids. It will be demonstrated that a novel coating of triacontyl is capable of rapid equilibrium while providing enhanced sensitivity towards benzodiazepines when compared to shorter chain alkyl extraction phases. The same extraction phase will prove capable of providing a rapid determination of the hydrophobicity of structurally diverse β-blocker drugs while maintaining the use of solvents and analyte to a minimum. We will then show the possibility to produce large quantities of fibers using a robotic apparatus for high-throughput handling of samples. The 96 fiber plate produced will then be used to analyze the target drug loratadine in human plasma using the same apparatus.