Abstract: In this work a hollow mesoporous structured molecularly imprinted polymer was synthetized and used as adsorbent in pipette-tip solid-phase extraction for the determination of lamivudine (3TC), zidovudine (AZT) and efavirenz (EFZ) from plasma of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected patients by high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). All parameters that influence the recovery of the pipette tip based on hollow mesoporous molecularly imprinted polymer solid-phase extraction (PT-HM-MIP-SPE) method were systematically studied and discussed in detail. The adsorbent material was prepared using methacrylic acid and 4-vinylpyridine as functional monomers, ethylene glycol dimethacrylate as crosslinker, acetonitrile as solvent, 4,4'-azobis(4-cyanovaleric acid) as radical initiator, benzalkonium chloride as surfactant), 3TC, and AZT as templates. The simultaneous separation of 3TC, AZT and EFZ by HPLC-UV was performed using a Gemini C18 Phenomenex? column (250 mm x 4.6 mm, 5 μm) and mobile phase consisting of acetonitrile: water pH 3.2 (68:32, v/v), flow rate of 1.0 mL min-1 and λ = 260 nm. The method was linear over the concentration range from 0.25 to 10 λg mL-1 for 3TC and EFZ, and 0.05 to 2.0 μg mL-1 for AZT, with correlation coefficients larger than 0.99 for all analytes. Recovery ± relative standard deviations (RSDs %) were 41.99 ± 2.38 %, 82.29 ± 1.63 %, and 83.72 ± 7.52 % for 3TC, AZT, and EFZ, respectively. The RSDs and relative errors (REs) were lower than 15 % for intra and interday assays. The method has been successfully applied for monitoring HIV-infected patients outside the therapeutic dosage.2 This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved
Author keywords: Antiretrovirals, HIV-infected patients, Hollow mesoporous molecularly imprinted polymer, Human Plasma, Pipette-tip solid-phase extraction