An affordable and semiautomated approach as a novel strategy for the extraction of DNA using magnetic ionic liquids followed by real time-polymerase chain reaction

This technical note describes a novel and straightforward experimental strategy for the extraction/capture of DNA using magnetic ionic liquid (MIL) followed by real time-polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis. An affordable and low-cost magneto-based multiwell platform was first examined for capturing DNA allowing for simultaneous extractions that increased the analysis throughput of the experimental workflow. This configuration was composed of a series of neodymium rod magnets attached to a multiwell device in which a magneto-active extraction phase (MIL) was suspended for a single drop microextraction (SDME) approach. In this configuration, up to 32 extractions were able to be performed simultaneously, and DNA was successfully extracted from aqueous samples. Furthermore, as a proof-of-concept, this affordable and simple experimental strategy proved to be efficient for the extraction/capture of DNA from challenging samples such as whole blood without any pretreatment. This fact also consists of important feature compared to previous methodologies that required additional steps of sample preparation.

Automated summary

This technical note presents a new and simple experimental strategy for DNA extraction/capture using magnetic ionic liquid (MIL) and real time-polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis. The study examined an affordable multiwell platform with neodymium rod magnets for DNA capture, allowing for simultaneous extractions and increasing analysis throughput. This strategy successfully extracted DNA from aqueous samples and even challenging samples like whole blood without pretreatment, making it a cost-effective and efficient alternative to previous methods that required additional sample preparation steps.