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What is SPME?

Description 

Solid phase microextraction, or SPME, is a fast and versatile sample preparation technique that reduces sample handling and solvent consumption. It can be used for headspace and immersion sampling while producing very clean extracts. 

In this Restek Tip, we explore the basics of SPME. What is it? How does it work? And what are its advantages? 

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Transcript

Solid phase microextraction, or SPME, sometimes pronounced spee-mee, is a fast and versatile sample preparation technique that reduces sample handling and solvent consumption. 

In this Restek Tip, we’re going to explore the basics of SPME. What is it? How does it work? And what are its advantages? 

Let’s start by looking at a SPME fiber. 

SPME employs a small amount of extraction phase, known as the coating, which is immobilized onto a solid support. When the SPME coating is exposed to the sample matrix, analytes are extracted onto and into the coating.  

The extraction continues until either the coating is withdrawn from the sample or until equilibrium is reached. 

In SPME, only a certain amount of analyte proportional to the analyte’s concentration in the sample is extracted. In some cases, the amount of analyte extracted is negligible in comparison to the total amount of analyte present in the sample. This is why it’s called a microextraction technique.  

While SPME is a non-exhaustive sample extraction technique, it is fully quantitative. Though longer extractions will lead to better limits of detection and quantification, we don’t need exhaustive extraction of our analytes.  

In fact, many scientific publications have reported on its usefulness for the quantification of a broad variety of compounds.  

SPME’s versatility allows for either headspace or direct immersion extractions, depending on your analytes of interest.  

Volatile analytes can be extracted by exposing the SPME coating to the sample’s headspace.  

Headspace extractions will help preserve the coating for longer lifetimes compared to direct immersion.  

For less volatile and non-volatile analytes, SPME extractions are performed by directly immersing the SPME fiber in the sample. 

SPME comes in a multitude of devices and geometries. Here, we have the SPME fiber and the SPME Arrow. Each of these are available in a selection of coatings, which you choose based on your analytes of interest. 

So, why would you use SPME? 

One of its main advantages is that it’s a green extraction technique because it significantly reduces or eliminates the solvent required for sample preparation. 

SPME extractions and desorptions can be fully automated with a variety of autosamplers. It’s also effective for analyses with small sample amounts, opening it up to a wider range of applications. 

An added advantage of SPME is that it can easily be used for field work thanks to the integration of sampling and sample preparation into one step. These features mean big time-savings, which can add up over dozens, or hundreds of analyses. 

As you can see, SPME is an excellent technique for many labs. If you would like to learn more about SPME—or are thinking about using it in your lab—check out our resources below or visit us at restek.com. 

Thank you for watching this Restek Tip. 

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