Microextraction Tech

Solid phase extraction (SPE) is a consolidated technique in sample pretreatment thanks to its robustness, enrichment capacity and selectivity enhancement. The great variety of commercial sorbents covering a wide range of interaction mechanisms, as well as the development of novel materials makes SPE a very versatile technique. Despite its usefulness, classic SPE still presents some shortcomings such as the requirement of moderate to high sample volumes or the use of organic solvents in the milliliter range. These limitations have been faced up by different research groups and as a consequence of these efforts new techniques, for instance microextraction by packed sorbent or pipette tip extraction, have emerged. Pipette tip extraction is based on a simple but innovative idea which consists in placing the sorbent inside a pipette tip. This approach allows the handling of low sample volumes requiring also lower volumes of organic solvents in the elution step. The sorbent can be used