John Kiratu

When developing analytical methods, several parameters are often considered, things like solvent type and amount, sample size, pH, sorptive phases, temperature, time, and more. While some of these considerations can be considered unimportant in a given situation and experience and chemical knowledge can guide us to appropriate starting points, extraction method development is often a one-parameter-at-a-time proposition. A family of statistical approaches, which fall under the category of response surface methodology, are available to screen and optimize several parameters simultaneously.

In this instalment, an overview of response surface methodology is presented and its application to developing extraction methods is discussed.