LAUSR

Abstract A molecularly imprinted polymer micro-solid phase extraction in pipette tip was employed for selective extraction and spectrophotometric determination of acetaminophen and nalidixic acid in pills and seawater samples. Parameters affecting microextraction, including pH of the sample, sample volume, type and elution solvent, number of cycles of extraction and desorption and amount of molecular imprinted polymer, were optimized utilizing both response surface methodology and one-variable-at-a-time methods. Four parameters in three levels were applied for response surface methodology experimental design. The proposed method indicated good linear range of 1.0–150.0 µg L −1 for nalidixic acid and 1.0–100.0 µg L −1 for acetaminophen by low detection limits of 0.2 and 0.3 µg L −1 , respectively, for nalidixic acid and acetaminophen. Found recoveries were between 88.7 and 99.8% for real samples, with relative standard deviations less than 5.8%. The suggested protocol was successfully utilized to the separation, preconcentration and determination of nalidixic acid and acetaminophen in commercial pills and seawater samples. Graphic abstract