Multiple headspace single-drop microextraction coupled with gas chromatography for direct determination of residual solvents in solid drug product

This paper proposed a multiple headspace single-drop microextraction (MHS-SDME) method coupled to gas chromatography with flame-ionization detection (GC-FID) for direct determination of residual solvents in solid drug product. The MHS-SDME technique is based on extrapolation to an exhaustive extraction of consecutive extractions from the same sample which eliminates the matrix effect on the quantitative analysis of solid samples. The total peak area of analyte is calculated with a beta constant which can be obtained from the slope of the linear regression that related to the peak area of each extraction and the number of extraction times. In this work, a model drug powder was chosen and the amounts of residues of two solvents, methanol and ethanol, were investigated. The factors influencing the extraction process including extraction solvent, microdrop volume, extraction time, sample amount, thermostatting temperature and incubation time were studied. 10 mg of drug powder was incubated for 3 h at 140 °C prior to the first extraction and thermostatted for 15 min at 140 °C between each extraction. Extraction was carried out with 2 μL of dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) as the microdrop for 5 min. The features of the method were established using standard solutions. Validation of the proposed method showed good agreement with the traditional dissolution method for analysis of residual solvents in drug product. The results indicated that MHS-SDME has a great potential for the quantitative determination of residual solvents directly from the solid drug products due to its low cost, ease of operation, sensitivity, reliability and environmental protection.     

Microwave assisted extraction of soy isoflavones

A fast and reliable analytical method using microwave assisted extraction has been developed. Several extraction solvents (methanol (MeOH) and ethanol (EtOH), 30-70% in water and water), temperatures (50-150 °C), extraction solvent volume, as well as the sample size (1.0-0.1 g) and extraction time (5-30 min) were studied for the optimization of the extraction protocol. The optimized extraction conditions for quantitative recoveries were: 0.5 g of sample, 50 °C, 20 min and 50% ethanol as extracting solvent. No degradation of the isoflavones was observed using the developed extraction protocol and a high reproducibility was achieved (>95%).     

Screening of transformation products in soils contaminated with unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine using headspace SPME and GC-MS

The paper describes a novel SPME-based approach for sampling and analysis of transformation products of highly reactive and toxic unsymmetrical dimethylhydrazine (UDMH) which is used as a fuel in many Russian, European, Indian, and Chinese heavy cargo carrier rockets. The effects of several parameters were studied to optimize analyte recovery. It was found that the 85 μm Carboxen/polydimethylsiloxane fiber coating provides the highest selectivity for selected UDMH transformation products. Optimal sampling/sample preparation parameters were determined to be 1-h soil headspace sampling time at 40 °C. The GC inlet temperature was optimized to 170 °C held for 0.1 min, then 1 °C s⁻¹ ramp to 250 °C where it was held for 40 min. Temperature programing resulted in a fast desorption along with minimal chemical transformation in the GC inlet. SPME was very effective extracting UDMH transformation products from soil samples contaminated with rocket fuel. The use of SPME resulted in high sensitivity, speed, small labor consumption due to an automation and simplicity of use. It was shown that water addition to soil leads to a significant decrease of recovery of almost all target transformation products of UDMH. The use of SPME for sampling and sample preparation resulted in detection of the total of 21 new compounds that are relevant to the UDMH transformation in soils. In addition, the number of confirmed transformation products of UDMH increased from 15 to 27. This sampling/sample preparation approach can be recommended for environmental assessment of soil samples from areas affected by space rocket activity.     

Pressurized liquid extraction of isoflavones from soybeans

Isoflavone derivatives from freeze-dried soybeans were extracted by pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) and determined by reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) with both photo diode array and mass spectrometry (MS) detection. Both real and spiked samples were used in the development of the method.Several extraction solvents (methanol (MeOH) and ethanol (EtOH), 30-80% in water and water), temperatures (60-200 °C), pressures (100-200 atm), as well as the sample size (0.5-0.05 g) and cycle length (5-10 min) were studied for the optimization of the extraction protocol. The optimized extraction conditions for quantitative recoveries were: 0.1 g of sample, 100 °C, three (7 min) static extraction cycles and ethanol 70% as extracting solvent. The stability of the isoflavones during the PLE was also determined. Under PLE conditions, degradation of malonyl glucoside forms of the isoflavones takes place using temperatures higher than 100 °C whereas degradation of glucosides takes place above 150 °C. Using the optimized protocol, isoflavones can be extracted from freeze-dried soybeans without degradation.     

Determination of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in aqueous samples by microwave assisted headspace solid-phase microextraction and gas chromatography/flame ionization detection

The novel pretreatment technique, microwave-assisted heating coupled to headspace solid-phase microextraction (MA-HS-SPME) has been studied for one-step in situ sample preparation for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in aqueous samples before gas chromatography/flame ionization detection (GC/FID). The PAHs evaporated into headspace with the water by microwave irradiation, and absorbed directly on a SPME fiber in the headspace. After being desorbed from the SPME fiber in the GC injection port, PAHs were analyzed by GC/FID. Parameters affecting extraction efficiency, such as SPME fiber coating, adsorption temperature, microwave power and irradiation time, and desorption conditions were investigated.Experimental results indicated that extraction of 20 mL aqueous sample containing PAHs at optional pH, by microwave irradiation with effective power 145 W for 30 min (the same as the extraction time), and collection with a 65 μm PDMS/DVB fiber at 20 °C circular cooling water to control sampling temperature, resulted in the best extraction efficiency. Optimum desorption of PAHs from the SPME fiber in the GC hot injection port was achieved at 290 °C for 5 min. The method was developed using spiked water sample such as field water with a range of 0.1-200 μg/L PAHs. Detection limits varied from 0.03 to 1.0 μg/L for different PAHs based on S/N = 3 and the relative standard deviations for repeatability were <13%. A real sample was collected from the scrubber water of an incineration system. PAHs of two to three rings were measured with concentrations varied from 0.35 to 7.53 μg/L. Recovery was more than 88% and R.S.D. was less than 17%. The proposed method is a simple, rapid, and organic solvent-free procedure for determination of PAHs in wastewater.     

Rapid determination of ethanol in fermentation liquor by full evaporation headspace gas chromatography

This paper reports a full evaporation (FE) headspace gas chromatographic (GC) method for rapid determination of ethanol in fermentation liquor. The data show that ethanol in the fermentation liquor was transferred to the vapor phase (headspace) almost completely within 3 min at a temperature of 105 °C when a very small volume (<50 μL) of sample was directly added to a sealed headspace sample vial (20 mL). The ethanol in the vapor phase was then measured by headspace GC using a flame ionization detector. The results show that the present method has an excellent measurement precision (RSD = 1.62%) and accuracy (recovery = 98.1 (±1.76%)) for the ethanol quantification in fermentation liquors. The method requires no sample pretreatment and is very simple and rapid.     

Determination of the residual ethanol in hydroalcoholic sealed hard gelatin capsules by static headspace gas chromatography with immiscible binary solvents

Static headspace gas chromatography (HS-GC) with immiscible binary solvents is described to quantitatively determine the residual ethanol used to seal the hard gelatin capsules by liquid encapsulated and microspray sealing (LEMS; cfs 1200, Greenwood, SC, USA). The effects of decane, dodecane, heptane, 0.1 M HCl, N,N-dimethylformamide, N,N-dimethylacetamide, N-methyl-2-pyrrolidinone and dimethyl sulfoxide on the method sensitivity are compared. It is observed that the ethanol headspace concentrations can be increased by fourfolds when aliphatic hydrocarbon solvents are added into the aqueous sample solutions in a HS vial. In addition, a mathematic model based on the concentration equilibriums of liquid–liquid and liquid–gas phases is derived to quantitatively describe the ethanol headspace concentrations versus the volumes of the aliphatic hydrocarbon solvents. The proposed model fits well to the experimental data. The impacts of the oven temperatures and vial equilibration times on the ethanol headspace concentrations are also investigated. Furthermore, the potential interferences of the capsule placebo and hard gelatin capsule shells on the selectivity and quantitation of the method are discussed. The linearity is validated from 5 μg/mL to 500 μg/mL. The limit of quantitation is 5 μg/mL. The accuracy is determined to be 100.8 ± 6%. Finally, this method is successfully used to determine the residual ethanol in the sealed capsules of 5 mg and 10 mg developmental Drug A, and 100 mg and 200 mg developmental Drug B.     

AMicro-sized headspace GC technique for determination of organic volatile impurities in water-insoluble pharmaceuticals

Summary A micro-sized headspace technique is presented for determination of organic volatile impurities (OVIs) in water-insoluble pharmaceuticals. Its main features include reduction of the amounts of sample of drug and sample dissolution medium, from 100–200 mg and 1–5 mL, respectively, in the traditional headspace method to 5–30 mg and 100 μL in the micro-sized headspace method, and shortening the headspace equilibration time from 45–60 min to 5–10 min. The validity of method has been examined both experimentally and theoretically. The relative standard deviation of the analysis and the linearity of method satisfied the requirements of the United States Pharmacopoeia. It was found that headspace equilibrium conditions have little influence on the sensitivity of the method, and that the presence of different amounts of drug substance in the sampling solution has little effect on the analytical results, in contrast with the traditional headspace GC method.     

Fast analysis of isoflavones by high-performance liquid chromatography using a column packed with fused-core particles

The recent development of fused-core technology in HPLC columns is enabling faster and highly efficient separations. This technology was evaluated for the development of an fast analysis method for the most relevant soy isoflavones. A step-by-step strategy was used to optimize temperature (25-50 °C), flow rate (1.2-2.7 mL/min), mobile phase composition and equilibration time (1-5 min). Optimized conditions provided a method for the separation of all isoflavones in less than 5.8 min and total analysis time (sample-to-sample) of 11.5 min. Evaluation of chromatographic performance revealed excellent reproducibility, resolution, selectivity, peak symmetry and low limits of detection and quantification levels. The use of a fused-core column allows highly efficient, sensitive, accurate and reproducible determination of isoflavones with an outstanding sample throughout and resolution. The developed method was validated with different soy samples with a total isoflavone concentration ranging from 1941.53 to 2460.84 μg g⁻¹ with the predominant isoflavones being isoflavone glucosides and malonyl derivatives.     

Simple and commercial readily-available approach for the direct use of ionic liquid-based single-drop microextraction prior to gas chromatography: Determination of chlorobenzenes in real water samples as model analytical application

A simple and commercial readily-available approach that enables the direct use of ionic liquid (IL)-based single-drop microextraction (SDME) prior to gas chromatography (GC) is presented. The approach is based on thermal desorption (TD) of the analytes from the IL droplet to the GC system, by using a robust and commercially-available thermodesorption system. For this purpose, a two-glass-tube concentrically disposed system was designed. The inner tube is a laboratory-cut Pyrex tube (20 mm length) that houses the ionic liquid droplet from the SDME process, and the outer tube is a commercially-available TD glass tube (187 mm length) commonly employed for stir-bar sorptive extractions (SBSE). In this way, the proposed device prevents IL from entering the GC system, as this could dirty the inlet or even block the column. The determination of 10 chlorobenzenes in water samples by GC coupled with mass spectrometric (MS) detection has been chosen as model analytical application, showing the feasibility of the proposed approach. The SDME process consists of a 5 μL droplet of 1-hexyl-3-methylimidazolium hexafluorophosphate ([C₆MIM][PF₆]) suspended in the headspace (HS) of a 10 mL stirred sample. After extracting for 37 min at room temperature, the IL droplet is directly placed into the small inner tube, which is placed into the TD tube. The whole device is placed inside the TD unit, where desorption of the analytes is performed at 240 °C for 5 min with a helium flow rate of 100 mL min⁻¹. The analytical figures of merit of the proposed IL-(HS)-SDME-TD-GC–MS approach are very suitable for the determination of chlorobenzenes at ultratrace levels, with relative standard deviation values ranging between 2% and 17%, and limits of detection ranging between 1 and 4 ng L⁻¹, showing the potential offered by the IL-based SDME process with GC.     

Constant pressure-assisted head-column field-amplified sample injection in combination with in-capillary derivatization for enhancing the sensitivity of capillary electrophoresis

In this work, a novel method combining constant pressure-assisted head-column field-amplified sample injection (PA-HC-FASI) with in-capillary derivatization was developed for enhancing the sensitivity of capillary electrophoresis. PA-HC-FASI uses an appropriate positive pressure to counterbalance the electroosmotic flow in the capillary column during electrokinetic injection, while taking advantage of the field amplification in the sample matrix and the water of the “head column”. Accordingly, the analytes were stacked at the stationary boundary between water and background electrolyte. After 600 s PA-HC-FASI, 4-fluoro-7-nitro-2,1,3-benzoxadiazole as derivatization reagent was injected, followed by an electrokinetic step (5 kV, 45 s) to enhance the mixing efficiency of analytes and reagent plugs. Standing a specified time of 10 min for derivatization reaction under 35 °C, then the capillary temperature was cooled to 25 °C and the derivatives were immediately separated and determined under 25 °C. By investigating the variables of the presented approach in detail, on-line preconcentration, derivatization and separation could be automatically operated in one run and required no modification of current CE commercial instrument. Moreover, the sensitivity enhancement factor of 520 and 800 together with the detection limits of 16.32 and 6.34 pg/mL was achieved for model compounds: glufosinate and aminomethylphosphonic acid, demonstrating the high detection sensitivity of the presented method.     

Simultaneous quantification of amphetamines, caffeine and ketamine in urine by hollow fiber liquid phase microextraction combined with gas chromatography-flame ionization detector

A method of hollow fiber (HF) liquid phase microextraction (LPME) combined with gas chromatography (GC)-flame ionization detection (FID) was developed for the simultaneous quantification of trace amphetamine (AP), methamphetamine (MA), methylenedioxyamphetamine (MDA), methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA), caffeine and ketamine (KT) in drug abuser urine samples. The factors affecting on the extraction of six target analytes by HF-LPME were investigated and optimized, and the subsequent analytical performance evaluation and real sample analysis were performed by the extraction of six target analytes in sample solution containing 30% NaCl (pH 12.5) for 20 min with extraction temperature of 30 °C and stirring rate of 1000 rpm. Under such optimal conditions, the limits of detection (LODs, S/N = 3) for the six target analytes were ranged from 8 μg/L (AP, KT) to 82 μg/L (MDA), with the enrichment factors (EFs) of 5-227 folds, and the relative standard deviations (RSDs, n = 7) were in the range of 6.9-14.1%. The correlation coefficients of the calibration for the six target analytes over the dynamic linear range were higher than 0.9958. The application feasibility of HF-LPME-GC-FID in illegal drug monitoring was demonstrated by analyzing drug abuser urine samples, and the recoveries of target drugs for the spiked sample ranging from 75.2% to 119.3% indicated an excellent anti-interference capability of the developed method. The proposed method is simple, effective, sensitive and low-cost, and provides a much more accurate and sensitive detection platform over the conventional analytical techniques (such as immunological assay) for drug abuse analysis.     

Micellar electrokinetic chromatography of organic and peroxide-based explosives

CE methods have been developed for the analysis of organic and peroxide-based explosives. These methods have been developed for deployment on portable, in-field instrumentation for rapid screening. Both classes of compounds are neutral and were separated using micellar electrokinetic chromatography (MEKC). The effects of sample composition, separation temperature, and background electrolyte composition were investigated. The optimised separation conditions (25 mM sodium tetraborate, 75 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate at 25 °C, detection at 200 nm) were applied to the separation of 25 organic explosives in 17 min, with very high efficiency (typically greater than 300,000 plates m⁻¹) and high sensitivity (LOD typically less than 0.5 mg L⁻¹; around 1–1.5 μM). A MEKC method was also developed for peroxide-based explosives (10 mM sodium tetraborate, 100 mM sodium dodecyl sulfate at 25 °C, detection at 200 nm). UV detection provided LODs between 5.5 and 45.0 mg L⁻¹ (or 31.2–304 μM), which is comparable to results achieved using liquid chromatography. Importantly, no sample pre-treatment or post-column reaction was necessary and the peroxide-based explosives were not decomposed to hydrogen peroxide. Both MEKC methods have been applied to pre-blast analysis and for the detection of post-blast residues recovered from controlled, small scale detonations of organic and peroxide-based explosive devices.     

Fast analysis of doping agents in urine by ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography–quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry: I. Screening analysis

The general strategy to perform anti-doping analyses of urine samples starts with the screening for a wide range of compounds. This step should be fast, generic and able to detect any sample that may contain a prohibited substance while avoiding false negatives and reducing false positive results. The experiments presented in this work were based on ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography coupled to hybrid quadrupole time-of-flight mass spectrometry. Thanks to the high sensitivity of the method, urine samples could be diluted 2-fold prior to injection. One hundred and three forbidden substances from various classes (such as stimulants, diuretics, narcotics, anti-estrogens) were analysed on a C₁₈ reversed-phase column in two gradients of 9 min (including two 3 min equilibration periods) for positive and negative electrospray ionisation and detected in the MS full scan mode. The automatic identification of analytes was based on retention time and mass accuracy, with an automated tool for peak picking. The method was validated according to the International Standard for Laboratories described in the World Anti-Doping Code and was selective enough to comply with the World Anti-Doping Agency recommendations. In addition, the matrix effect on MS response was measured on all investigated analytes spiked in urine samples. The limits of detection ranged from 1 to 500 ng/mL, allowing the identification of all tested compounds in urine. When a sample was reported positive during the screening, a fast additional pre-confirmatory step was performed to reduce the number of confirmatory analyses.     

Alkaline extraction in combination with microwave-assisted extraction followed by solid-phase extraction treatment for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in a sediment sample

Microwave-assisted extraction using 1 M KOH/methanol (alkaline-MAE) in combination with solid-phase extraction treatment was developed and applied to polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs) in a sediment sample. Although various conditions were examined (100 or 150 °C for 10 or 30 min), comparable concentrations of PAHs to those obtained by conventional extraction with 1 M KOH/methanol at 70 °C for 4 h were obtained, even at 100 °C for 10 min. The concentrations obtained by using MeOH at 150 °C for 30 min without KOH were lower (by 1.3-37%) than those obtained by alkaline-MAE at 150 °C for 30 min. Since the developed technique can introduce higher concentration of benzo[ghi]perylene relative to those using pressurized liquid extraction (toluene, 150 °C, 15 MPa, 10 min, two cycles), the developed alkaline-MAE is a effective technique.     

A direct resistively heated gas chromatography column with heating and sensing on the same nickel element

Nickel clad or nickel wired fused silica column bundles were constructed and evaluated. The nickel sheathing or wire functions not only as the heating element for direct resistive heat, but also as the temperature sensor, since nickel has a large resistive temperature coefficient. With this method the temperature controller is able to apply power and measure the temperature simultaneously on the same nickel element, which can effectively avoid the temperature overshoot caused by any delayed response of the sensor to the heating element. This approach also eliminates the cool spot where a separate sensor touches the column. There are some other advantages to the column bundle structure: (1) the column can be heated quickly because of the direct heating and the column's low mass, shortening analysis time. We demonstrate a maximum heating rate of 13 °C/s (800 °C/min). (2) Cooling time is also short, increasing sample throughput. The column drops from 360 °C to 40 °C is less than 1 min. (3) Power consumption is very low – 1.7 W/m (8.5 W total) for a 5 m column and 0.69 W/m (10.4 W total) for a 15 m column when they are kept at 200 °C isothermally. With temperature programming, the power consumption for a 5 m column is less then 70 W for an 800 °C/min ramp to 350 °C. (4) The column bundle is small, with a diameter of only about 2.25 in. All these advantages make the column bundle ideal for fast GC analysis or portable instruments. Column efficiencies and retention time repeatability have been evaluated and compared with the conventional oven heating method in this study. For isothermal conditions, the column efficiencies are measured by effective theoretical plate number. It was found that the plate number with resistive heat is always less than with oven heat, due to uneven heat in the column bundle. However, the loss is not significant – an average of about 1.5% for the nickel clad column and 4.5% for the nickel wired column. Separation numbers are used for the comparison with temperature programming, with results similar to those observed for isothermal conditions. Retention time repeatability for direct heat were 0.010% RSD for isotheral and 0.037% RSD for temperature programming, which is similar to those obtained by oven heat. Applications have been demonstrated, including diesel and PAH analysis.     

Degradation of polycaprolactone in supercritical fluids

The degradation of polycaprolactone (PCL) was studied in subcritical and supercritical toluene from 250 to 375 °C at 50 bar. The degradation was also investigated in various solvents like ethylbenzene, o-xylene and benzene at 325 °C and 50 bar. The effect of pressure on degradation was also evaluated at 325 °C at various pressures (35, 50 and 80 bar). The variation of molecular weight with time was analyzed using gel permeation chromatography and modeled using continuous distribution kinetics to evaluate the degradation rate coefficients. PCL degrades by random chain scission in subcritical conditions (250-300 °C) and by chain end scission (325-375 °C) in supercritical conditions in toluene. The degradation of PCL in other solvents at 325 °C was by chain end scission under both subcritical and supercritical conditions indicating that the mode of scission depends on the temperature and not on the supercriticality of the solvent. The thermogravimetric analysis of PCL was investigated at various heating rates (2-24 °C/min) and the activation energy was determined using Friedman, Ozawa and Kissinger methods. It was shown that PCL degrades by random scission at lower temperatures and by chain end scission at higher temperatures again indicating that the mode of scission is dependent on the temperature.     

Ultrasound-assisted extraction of isoflavones from soy beverages blended with fruit juices

A new method for the fast determination of isoflavones from soy beverages blended with fruit juices without the need of freeze-drying the sample was developed. During the method development, several parameters were studied: solvent (methanol and ethanol), sample:solvent ratio (5:1 to 0.2:1), temperature (10-60 °C) and extraction time (5-30 min). The most important parameter for the extraction of isoflavones from soy drinks was the sample:solvent ratio. The optimized method consists of extracting the sample with ethanol with a sample:solvent ratio of 0.2:1 on an ultrasound bath at 45 °C during 20 min. Also, samples were freeze-dried, extracted using conventional method and compared with the optimized method and no significant difference was observed on total and individual isoflavone concentration. The most representative samples from the Spanish market, with a wide variation of isoflavone concentration were analyzed using the optimized method. Differences between manufacturers reached an almost 10 times fold variation. Overall isoflavone concentration ranged from 6.7 to 58.2 mg L⁻¹.     

Determination of five booster biocides in seawater by stir bar sorptive extraction–thermal desorption–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry

Stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) and thermal desorption (TD)–gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS) have been optimized for the determination of five organic booster biocides (Chlorothalonil, Dichlofluanid, Sea-Nine 211, Irgarol 1051 and TCMTB) in seawater samples. The parameters affecting the desorption and absorption steps were investigated using 10 mL seawater samples. The optimised conditions consisted of an addition of 0.2 g mL⁻¹ KCl to the sample, which was extracted with 10 mm length, 0.5 mm film thickness stir bars coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), and stirred at 900 rpm for 90 min at room temperature (25 °C) in a vial. Desorption was carried out at 280 °C for 5 min under 50 mL min⁻¹ of helium flow in the splitless mode while maintaining a cryotrapping temperature of 20 °C in the programmed-temperature vaporization (PTV) injector of the GC–MS system. Finally, the PTV injector was ramped to a temperature of 280 °C and the analytes were separated in the GC and detected by MS using the selected-ion monitoring (SIM) mode. The detection limits of booster biocides were found to be in the range of 0.005–0.9 μg L⁻¹. The regression coefficients were higher than 0.999 for all analytes. The average recovery was higher than 72% (R.S.D.: 7–15%). All these figures of merit were established running samples in triplicate. This simple, accurate, sensitive and selective analytical method may be used for the determination of trace amounts of booster biocides in water samples from marinas.     

High-throughput salting-out assisted liquid/liquid extraction with acetonitrile for the simultaneous determination of simvastatin and simvastatin acid in human plasma with liquid chromatography

Simvastatin (SS) is an effective cholesterol-lowering medicine, and is hydrolyzed to simvastatin acid (SSA) after oral administration. Due to SS and SSA inter-conversion and its pH and temperature dependence, SS and SSA quantitation is analytically challenging. Here we report a high-throughput salting-out assisted liquid/liquid extraction (SALLE) method with acetonitrile and mass spectrometry compatible salts for simultaneous LC-MS/MS analysis of SS and SSA. The sample preparation of a 96-well plate using SALLE was completed within 20 min, and the SALLE extract was diluted and injected into an LC-MS/MS system with a cycle time of 2.0 min/sample. The seamless interface of SALLE and LC-MS eliminated drying down step and thus potential sample exposure to room or higher temperature. The stability of SS and SSA in various concentration ratios in plasma was evaluated at room and low (4 °C) temperature and the low temperature (4 °C) was found necessary to maintain sample integrity. The short sample preparation time along with controlled temperature (2-4 °C) and acidity (pH 4.5) throughout sample preparation minimized the conversion of SS → SSA to ≤0.10% and the conversion of SSA → SS to 0.00% The method was validated with a lower limit of quantitation (LLOQ) of 0.094 ng mL⁻¹ for both SS and SSA and a sample volume of 100 μL. The method was used for a bioequivalence study with 4048 samples. Incurred sample reproducibility (ISR) analysis of 362 samples from the study exceeded ISR requirement with 99% re-analysis results within 100 ± 20% of the original analysis results.