High Surface Area Solid Phase Microextraction
High surface solid phase
microextraction (HSA-SPME) is an interesting extraction technique developed in
2009 which enhances the efficiency of classic SPME by increasing the total area
of the extracting phase (1). The core of the classical HSA-SPME device is an
oxidation-resistant metallic wire coated with a carboxen/polydimethyl siloxane
film which is the responsible for analyte extraction. This metallic wire is
wrapped around a borosilicate glass tube which is introduced in an outer glass
tube where a gaseous sample flows in a controlled fashion (see Figure 1).
HSA-SPME consists of two general
steps. First of all, a gaseous sample is introduced into the device at a
controlled flow and the analytes are retained in the SPME coating. Once the
sampling has been completed, the target analytes are thermally desorbed
applying an electric current to the metallic wire and further focused and
preconcentrated on a microtrap for their subsequent analysis by gas
chromatography.
In a recent article accepted for
publication in Analytical Chemistry (2), HSA-SPME device is improved by introducing
a type-K thermocoupled which permits a more precise temperature control on the unit.
The new device has been applied to the determination of chemical warfare agents
and degradation products at very low concentrations.
The authors compare the HSA-SPME
with a conventional thermal desorption unit and the results show that HSA-SPME
is superior when high volumes of samples are processed, that is, HSA-SPME
provides higher peak areas per unit sampling times. In fact, subparts per
billion by volume levels can be determined with only 15 s of sampling.
We strongly recommend these articles
to our readers. The on-line combination of two HSA-SPME as well as the
determination of warfare degradation products in clothes are quite interesting.
References:
(1) Directly Heated High Surface
Area Solid Phase Microextraction Sampler for Rapid Field Forensic Analyses. Link to the article
(2) Application of a High Surface
Area Solid-Phase Microextraction Air Sampling Device: Collection and Analysis
of Chemical Warfare Agent Surrogate and Degradation Compounds. Link to the article
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