Microfluidic droplet-based liquid-liquid extraction and on-chip IR spectroscopy detection of cocaine in human saliva

Anal Chem. 2013 Aug 6;85(15):7558-65. doi: 10.1021/ac401606p. Epub 2013 Jul 18.

Abstract

We present a portable microsystem to quantitatively detect cocaine in human saliva. In this system, we combine a microfluidic-based multiphase liquid-liquid extraction method to transfer cocaine continuously from IR-light-absorbing saliva to an IR-transparent solvent (tetrachloroethylene) with waveguide IR spectroscopy (QC-laser, waveguide, detector) to detect the cocaine on-chip. For the fabrication of the low-cost polymer microfluidic chips a simple rapid prototyping technique based on Scotch-tape masters was further developed and applied. To perform the droplet-based liquid-liquid extraction, we designed and integrated a simple and robust droplet generation method based on the capillary focusing effect within the device. Compared to well-characterized and commonly used microfluidic H-filters, our system showed at least two times higher extraction efficiencies with potential for further improvements. The current liquid-liquid extraction method alone can efficiently extract cocaine and pre-concentrate the analytes in a new solvent. Our fully integrated optofluidic system successfully detected cocaine in real saliva samples spiked with the drug (500 μg/mL) and allowed real time measurements, which makes this approach suitable for point-of-care applications.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Analytic Sample Preparation Methods
  • Cocaine / analysis*
  • Cocaine / chemistry
  • Cocaine / isolation & purification*
  • Humans
  • Liquid-Liquid Extraction / methods*
  • Microfluidic Analytical Techniques / methods*
  • Saliva / chemistry*
  • Spectrophotometry, Infrared / methods*

Substances

  • Cocaine