Coupling Microextraction With Thin Layer Chromatography-Image Processing Analysis: A New Analytical Platform for Drug Analysis

Aim: A new analytical platform combining ultrasound assisted-dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (US-DLLME) with thin layer chromatography (TLC)-image processing analysis has been proposed. Materials and Methods: Acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) was selected as the model compound to demonstrate the applicability of the proposed method. The complete analysis comprises of three steps: (i) US-DLLME (injection of extraction and disperser solvent into an aqueous sample, ultrasonication and centrifugation), (ii) TLC of sedimented phase, and (iii) photography of TLC plate followed by quantification of ASA spots using freely available imageJ software (National Institute of Health (NIH), Bethesda, MD, USA). Results: The newly developed method is simple, environmentally benign and does not require any special instrument and handling skills. The limit of detection (LOD) and limit of quantification (LOQ) were found to be 0.1 and 0.35 g/spot, respectively. The assay was found to be linear in the range of 1-250 g/spot with a square of correlation coefficient (R 2 ) of 0.999.