Single drop microextraction—Development,applications and future trends

Single drop microextraction (SDME) has emerged over the last 10–15 years as one of the simplest and most easily implemented forms of micro-scale sample cleanup and preconcentration. In the most common arrangement, an ordinary chromatography syringe is used to suspend microliter quantities of extracting solvent either directly immersed in the sample, or in the headspace above the sample. The same syringe is then used to introduce the solvent and extracted analytes into the chromatography system for identification and/or quantitation. This review article summarizes the historical development and various modes of the technique, some theoretical and practical aspects, recent trends and selected applications.     

Automation of static and dynamic non-dispersive liquid phase microextraction. Part 1: Approaches based on extractant drop-, plug-, film- and microflow-formation

Simplicity, effectiveness, swiftness, and environmental friendliness – these are the typical requirements for the state of the art development of green analytical techniques. Liquid phase microextraction (LPME) stands for a family of elegant sample pretreatment and analyte preconcentration techniques preserving these principles in numerous applications. By using only fractions of solvent and sample compared to classical liquid–liquid extraction, the extraction kinetics, the preconcentration factor, and the cost efficiency can be increased. Moreover, significant improvements can be made by automation, which is still a hot topic in analytical chemistry. This review surveys comprehensively and in two parts the developments of automation of non-dispersive LPME methodologies performed in static and dynamic modes. Their advantages and limitations and the reported analytical performances are discussed and put into perspective with the corresponding manual procedures. The automation strategies, techniques, and their operation advantages as well as their potentials are further described and discussed.     

Recent development in liquid phase microextraction for determination of trace level concentration of metals—A review

As the drive towards green extraction methods has gained momentum in recent years, it has not always been possible to eliminate organic solvents completely. However, the volumes employed have been reduced remarkably, so that a single microdrop is sufficient in some cases. This effort has led to the development of various liquid phase microextractions namely single drop microextraction (SDME), hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction (HF-LPME), dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) and solidified floating organic drop microextraction (SFODME). In this review, the historical development and overview of these miniaturized liquid phase extraction methodologies have briefly been discussed and a comprehensive collection of application of the these methods in combination with different analytical techniques for preconcentration and determination of ultra trace amounts of metals and organometal ions in various matrices have been summarized.     

Headspace single-drop microextraction with in-drop derivatization for aldehyde analysis

A new technique, headspace single-drop microextraction (HS-SDME) with in-drop derivatization, was developed. Its feasibility was demonstrated by analysis of the model compounds, aldehydes in water. A hanging microliter drop of solvent containing the derivatization agent of O-2,3,4,5,6-(pentaflurobenzyl)hydroxylamine hydrochloride (PFBHA) was shown to be an excellent extraction, concentration, and derivatization medium for headspace analysis of aldehydes by GC-MS. Using the microdrop solvent with PFBHA, acetaldehyde, propanal, butanal, hexanal, and heptanal in water were headspace extracted and simultaneously derivatized. The formed oximes in the microdrop were analyzed by GC-MS. HS-SDME and in-drop derivatization parameters (extraction solvent, extraction temperature, extraction time, stirring rate microdrop volume, and the headspace volume) and the method validations (linearity, precision, detection limit, and recovery) were studied. Compared to liquid-liquid extraction and solid-phase microextraction, HS-SDME with in-drop derivatization is a simple, rapid, convenient, and inexpensive sample technique.     

Single-drop microextraction followed by in-syringe derivatization and gas chromatography-mass spectrometric detection for determination of organic acids in fruits and fruit juices

A simple analytical procedure based on single-drop microextraction combined with in-syringe derivatization and GC-MS was developed for determination of some phenolic acids in fruits and fruit juices. Cinnamic acid, o-coumaric acid, caffeic acid, and p-hydroxybenzoic acid were used as model compounds. The analytes were extracted from a 3-mL sample solution using 2.5 microL of hexyl acetate. The extracted phenolic acids were derivatized inside the syringe barrel using 0.7 microL of N,O-bis(trimethylsilyl)acetamide before injection into the GC-MS. The influence of derivatization conditions on the yield of in-syringe silylation was studied. Experimental SDME parameters such as selection of organic solvent, solvent volume, extraction time, extraction temperature, pH, and ionic strength of the solution on the extraction performance were studied. The method provided fairly good precision for all compounds (2.4-11.9%). Detection limits were found to be between 0.6 and 164 ng/mL within an extraction time of 20 min in the GC-MS full scan mode.     

Determination of diphenylether herbicides in water samples by solid-phase microextraction coupled to liquid chromatography

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) coupled to LC for the analysis of five diphenylether herbicides (aclonifen, bifenox, fluoroglycofen-ethyl, oxyfluorfen, and lactofen) is described. Various parameters of extraction of analytes onto the fiber (such as type of fiber, extraction time and temperature, pH, impact of salt and organic solute) and desorption from the fiber in the desorption chamber prior to separation (such as type and composition of desorption solvent, desorption mode, soaking time, and flush-out time) were studied and optimized. Four commercially available SPME fibers were studied. PDMS/divinylbenzene (PDMS/DVB, 60 microm) and carbowax/ templated resin (CW/TPR, 50 microm) fibers were selected due to better extraction efficiencies. Repeatability (RSD, < 7%), correlation coefficient (> 0.994), and detection limit (0.33-1.74 and 0.22-1.94 ng/mL, respectively, for PDMS/DVB and CW/TPR) were investigated. Relative recovery (81-104% for PDMS/DVB and 83-100% for CW/TPR fiber) values have also been calculated. The developed method was successfully applied to the analysis of river water and water collected from a vegetable garden.