Extraction of benzodiazepines from human urine using ISOLUTE SLE+ in column format prior to GC-MS analysis

ISOLUTE SLE+ Supported Liquid Extraction plates and columns offer an efficient alternative to traditional liquid-liquid extraction (LLE) for bioanalytical sample preparation, providing high analyte recoveries, no emulsion formation and significantly reduced sample preparation time.
Benzodiazepines are psychoactive drugs used to treat various conditions including anxiety, insomnia, seizures and alcohol withdrawal. Long-term use can cause physical dependence and withdrawal upon cessation of use, due to this their application as medication has to be monitored and measured.
This application note details an optimized extraction protocol for the use of ISOLUTE SLE+ supported liquid 1 mL sample volume columns to extract a range of benzodiazepines from human urine. This simplified and efficient extraction method has analyte recoveries from 90% with LOQs as low as 40 ng/ mL. The application has also been performed with halogenated and non-halogenated extraction solvents in the interests of providing for green chemistry.