Fiber-packed SPE tips based on electrospun fibers

A novel fiber-packed solid-phase extraction (SPE) tip was designed based on electrospun nanofibers. The tip was used to investigate the extraction of hydrocortisone (HC), cortisone acetate (CA), ethinylestradiol (EE), and estradiol (E2). The effects of diameters, porous figurations, and functional groups of the electrospun fibers on the selectivity and efficiency were studied. The experimental results indicated that the detection limit of cortisol in water sample could be as low as 0.75 ng/mL. When the tip is used for detection of cortisol in human hair the efficiency of biological sample pretreatment is better than the traditional SPE method. Our method could significantly simplify the traditional SPE process and lower the cost. Industrial application of the tip is anticipated. Figure Analyte molecules (e.g., cortisol) are attracted onto the electrospun nanofibers of the packed SPE tip. Careful selection of the fiber diameter, morphology, and functional groups affords high selectivity, sensitivity, and extraction recoveries Electronic supplementary material  The online version of this article (doi:) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.