Abstract: A polymer monolithic column was prepared in a syringe by using [2-(acryloyloxy) ethyl] trimethyl ammonium chloride (DAC) as a monomer and ethylene glycol dimethacrylate (EDMA) as a crosslinker. The obtained monolith was developed as a solid-phase extraction sorbent and used with high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) for the analysis of three benzodiazepines (BZDs) including bromazepam (BRZ), lorazepam (LRZ) and diazepam (DZP) in urine. The effects of reaction time and the solid-phase extraction conditions (washing solution, elution solvent and volume) on the extraction efficiencies of the three BZDs were investigated. The monolithic column was successfully prepared within 4 h, and it offered 100% adsorption efficiency for the three BZDs. The urine sample (4 mL) was loaded on the monolith, washed with 4 mL of H₂O, and eluted with 1 mL of ethyl acetate. Under the optimized conditions, the linear ranges were 4.0-1000 ng/mL for the three BZDs, with correlation coefficients (r) of 0.999. The limits of detection (S/N=3) and limits of quantification (S/N=10) of the three BZDs were in the range of 1.0-1.2 ng/mL and 3.3-4.0 ng/mL, respectively. The recoveries at three spiked levels (10, 25 and 50 ng/mL) of the three BZDs ranged from 81.4% to 102%, with intra-day and inter-day relative standard deviations (n=3) of 1.2%-4.5% and 2.5%-8.3%. The polymer monolithic column provided effective purification for the three BZDs in urine and the enrichment factor was 12-15. This polymer monolithic adsorbent has the advantages of easy preparation and high extraction efficiency. It is successfully applied to the determination of the three BZDs in urine samples.

Key words: high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), solid-phase extraction (SPE), polymeric monolithic column, [2-(acryloyloxy) ethyl] trimethyl ammonium chloride (DAC), benzodiazepines (BZDs), urine