Magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers based on eco-friendly deep eutectic solvent for recognition and extraction of three glucocorticoids in lotion

In this study, a magnetic dispersive micro-solid phase extraction (MD-μ-SPE) pretreatment method assisted by deep eutectic solvent-magnetic molecularly imprinted polymers (DES-MMIPs) was established in combination with UHPLC-UV analysis method for extraction and determination of Hydrocortisone (HC), cortisone (COR) and dexamethasone (DEX) in lotion. The prepared DES-MMIPs were characterized by FT-IR, SEM and VSM, showing the successful synthesis DES-MMIPs. Then, a series of adsorption affinity tests indicated the prepared material had excellent adsorption capacity, specific recognition performance (IF = 1.33–1.44) and satisfactory reusability (four times). The DES-MMIPs combine the low toxicity of DES, selectivity of MIPs and the convenience of recovery offered by magnetism. Furthermore, the adsorption and desorption conditions were investigated. Under the optimum conditions, the method detection limits (MDLs) of HC, COR and DEX were 0.6, 0.6 and 0.9 ng mL−1, respectively. And the method linear ranges of HC, COR and DEX were 1.8–115.2, 1.8–115.2 and 3.5–224.0 ng mL−1, respectively, which showed a good correlation (r > 0.9997). The extraction recovery ranged from 81.2 % to 96.7 %. Finally, three glucocorticoids were not detected in some lotion samples. Therefore, the established MD-μ-SPE-UHPLC-UV method provides a promising strategy to the selective extraction and determination of three GCs in lotion.