High-throughput salting-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction using a 3D printed device and its application in the quantification of ibrutinib and its metabolite PCI-45227 in human serum.

Liquid-liquid extraction methods are widely used for sample treatment in bioanalysis, although their implementation poses a common speed-limiting step in the analytical process when fast separation and detection methods such as UHPLC-MS are used. This study aimed to develop high-throughput salting-out assisted liquid-liquid extraction on a 96-well plate in combination with fast LC-MS analysis of ibrutinib and its active metabolite PCI-45227 (dihydrodiol ibrutinib) in human serum. A specially designed 3D printed extraction device developed in our laboratory allowed for the precise and rapid collection of the organic phase from the 96-well plate using a multichannel pipette, without the risk of aspiration of the bottom aqueous layer. The application of this device significantly accelerated sample preparation and allowed the processing of up to 96 samples in 1 h. The method was successfully validated according to EMA guidelines in the concentration range of 0.1-200 ng/mL for both analytes, providing lower limit of quantification at 100 pg/mL. The intra-day accuracy for IBT was in the range of - 1.67-5.67 %, while the inter-day accuracy was in the range of 0.20-6.90 %. The intra-day precision for IBT was in the range of 3.20-4.37 % and 3.13-4.73 % for the inter-day measurement. PCI-45227 showed intra-day accuracy in the range of - 11.2-3.71 % and the inter-day accuracy in the range of - 5.76-0.92 %. The intra-day precision for PCI was in the range of 3.49-7.64 % and 3.63-8.61 % for the measurement between days. In addition to increasing the speed of sample preparation, this method also offers low consumption of the sample and extraction solvent and can be utilized for other similar small-volume in-well plate extractions where organic solvents of lower density than water are used. The method was successfully applied to the analysis of serum samples (n = 5) of patients with chronic lymphoblastic leukaemia at the trough level (ibrutinib concentration range: 1.63-3.78 ng/mL, PCI-45227 concentration range: 1.84-14.02 ng/mL) and 2 h postdose (ibrutinib concentration range: 7.34-89.0 ng/mL, PCI-45227 concentration range: 5.64-124 ng/mL).