May 15th 2024
The still relatively new technique has distinct advantages, but a few of those benefits make it incompatible with some of the currently accepted principles of green sample preparation.
Recent Advances in Solid-Phase Microextraction, Part I: New Tricks for an Old Dog
March 1st 2018A look at recent advances in SPME, such as increasing the sorbent surface area available for extraction, accommodating direct analysis by mass spectrometry, and sorbent overcoating to resist fouling by sugars and lipids
Sample Preparation: The State of the Art
November 1st 2017In this extended special feature to celebrate the 30th anniversary edition of LCGC Europe, leading figures from the separation science community explore contemporary trends in separation science and identify possible future developments. We asked key opinion leaders in the field to discuss the current state of the art in sample preparation.
The Use of Extraction Technologies in Food Safety Studies
March 1st 2017Traditional extraction methods for food samples, such as liquid-liquid extraction and Soxhlet extraction, are often time-consuming and require large amounts of organic solvents. Therefore, one of the objectives of analytical food safety studies currently has been the development of new extraction techniques that can improve the accuracy and precision of analytical results and simplify the analytical procedure.
Supporting Bioanalysis with Dried Blood Spots
November 1st 2016Blood is perhaps the most widely used sample fluid in bioanalysis. Dried blood spots (DBS) have been used with clinical samples for over 50 years but are recently seeing a resurgence of interest. DBS hold several advantages associated with the use of small sample sizes obtained via finger pricks, reduction biohazard, and more. In the previous installment, we gave an overview of microsampling in bioanalysis. This month, we will dig deeper into bioanalysis using DBS.
Let’s Do It Right the First Time: The Importance of Solvent Safety Considerations
October 1st 2015If sample preparation is the most time and labor intense step in the analytical process, and uses the largest amounts of solvents, it stands to reason that sample preparation may present the most significant safety risks in the analytical lab. While most laboratory workers receive significant safety training, we may become numb to the prospect of accidents or get into the mindset that accidents only happen to other people. Given some recent, significant safety incidents, this month we step back and take a quick refresher on safety concerns appropriate during our sample preparation activities.
Solid-Phase Microextraction in Clinical Diagnostics
July 24th 2015Researchers at the University of Waterloo in Canada are collaborating with clinicians at Toronto General Hospital to develop preclinical and clinical applications of solid-phase microextraction (SPME). Bethany Degg of The Column spoke to Barbara Bojko from the team to find out more.
Aiding the Development of Extraction Procedures with Response Surface Methodology
July 1st 2015When 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.
Understanding and Improving Solid-Phase Extraction
December 1st 2014In this installment of "Sample Prep Perspectives," we cover some of the basic scientific principles behind solid-phase extraction (SPE) to allow the correct mode of extraction to be selected through an understanding of how analytes interact with and are separated by the sorbent.