Ionic liquid-impregnated agarose film two-phase micro-electrodriven membrane extraction (IL-AF-μ-EME) for the analysis of antidepressants in water samples

[Display omitted] •Ionic liquid-impregnated agarose film two-phase micro-electrodriven membrane extraction (IL-AF-μ-EME) was developed.•IL-AF-μ-EME combined with HPLC-UV was applied for the analysis of antidepressants in water samples.•The method provided excellent limits of detection of (0.1–0.4μgL–1) and high enrichment factors (110–150).•The two-phase system offers faster and simpler extraction and is compatible with many types of instruments.•The technique utilizes low voltage supply, minute amounts of liquid solvent and supports the green chemistry concept. The aim of this study was to investigate and apply supported ionic liquid membrane (SILM) in two-phase micro-electrodriven membrane extraction combined with high performance liquid chromatography-ultraviolet detection (HPLC-UV) for pre-concentration and determination of three selected antidepressant drugs in water samples. A thin agarose film impregnated with 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate, [C6MIM] [PF6], was prepared and used as supported ionic liquid membrane between aqueous sample solution and acceptor phase for extraction of imipramine, amitriptyline and chlorpromazine. Under the optimized extraction conditions, the method provided good linearity in the range of 1.0–1000μgL−1, good coefficients of determination (r2=0.9974–0.9992) and low limits of detection (0.1–0.4μgL−1). The method showed high enrichment factors in the range of 110–150 and high relative recoveries in the range of 88.2–111.4% and 90.9–107.0%, for river water and tap water samples, respectively with RSDs of ≤7.6 (n=3). This method was successfully applied to the determination of the drugs in river and tap water samples. It is envisaged that the SILM improved the perm-selectivity by providing a pathway for targeted analytes which resulted in rapid extraction with high degree of selectivity and high enrichment factor.