Determination of haloperidol in biological samples using molecular imprinted polymer nanoparticles followed by HPLC-DAD detection

In this study an extraction procedure using molecular imprinted polymer nanoparticles for the determination of haloperidol in biological samples is proposed. The haloperidol imprinted polymer nanoparticles were synthesized successfully by precipitation polymerization in a flask containing haloperidol as a template, ethyleneglycoldimethacrylate as a crosslinking agent, methacrylic acid as a functional monomer, and 2,2′-azobisisobutyronitrile as an initiator. The leached and unleached polymer nanoparticles have been characterized by infrared spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy. The effect of different variables such as the pH of solution, uptake and elution time, type, and the least amount of eluent for elution of haloperidol from polymer was evaluated. Extraction efficiencies more than 97% were obtained by elution of the polymer with 1.5 mL of methanol–acetic acid–trifluoroacetic acid 79.9:20:0.1. Under optimal conditions maximum adsorption capacity was obtained 153.84 mg g⁻¹. The detection limit of the proposed procedure was between 0.2 and 0.35 μg L⁻¹. Finally this method was applied to the determination of haloperidol in plasma and urine samples and satisfactory results were achieved (RSD < 6.9%).