engleski

Novel method for detection of contrast agents and structural elucidation of their potential degradation products.

Contrast agents are the most widely applied pharmaceuticals during radiographic procedures in hospitals. These bioactive compounds exhibit high polarity and are chemically inert drugs which are designed to be very stable in human metabolism as well as very persistent against environmental degradation [1-3]. Municipal wastewater treatment plants are not able to remove the contrast agents and they accumulate in drinking water and freshwater ecosystems [4]. There is a clear need for new rapid cost-effective analytical methods for environmental application, with an emphasis on reduced cost when compared to existing techniques. To contribute to the progress in this field we based our research on the development of novel method for detection of four iodine-based contrast agents (i.e. Iohexol, Iomeprol, Iodixanol and Diatrizoate) by combining thermal lens microscope (TLM) with microfluidic devices. For detection of contrast media the development of a new method was based on the release of iodine from parent molecule by chemical reaction, and its extraction into an organic solvent such as chloroform which could be performed on-line in a microfluidic chip with TLM detection. Proposed degradation products and pathway was explained by the use of high resolution mass spectrometry (2D-LC-qTOF MS. The developed μFIA-TLM method for determination of contrast agents based on detection of iodine provides about 60 times lower limit of detection (LOD) in comparison to common spectrophotometric methods. At the same time the new method enables shorter time of analysis and higher sample throughput for the purpose of fast screening method for bioactive compounds.

contrast agents ; TLM ; microfluidic chip ; mass spectrometry

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