Directly suspended droplet microextraction

This work describes a new sampling method termed directly suspended droplet microextraction (DSDME) was developed. In this technique a free microdroplet of solvent is delivered to the surface of an immiscible aqueous sample while being agitated by a stirring bar placed on the bottom of the sample cell. After some time, the microdroplet of solvent is withdrawn by a syringe and analyzed. Under the proper stirring conditions, the suspended droplet can remain in a top-center position of the aqueous sample. The droplet can become partly engulfed within the sample while maintaining a stable shape with mechanical equilibrium and the mass transfer could be effectively intensified. Using 1, 8-d ioxyanthraq u i none as a model compound and I -octanol as the solvent, the extraction performance was investigated using HPLC. Since DSDME is based on a self-stable single rnicrodroplet system, there are no requirements for special equipment or other supporting material like hollow fibers. Other advantages include ease of operation, free from cross contamination, quick to reach extraction equilibrium, and the ability to be combined with various analysis instruments. In our experiments, good linearity (r(2) = 0.9992) and precision (R.S.D. < 1% n = 5) were achieved. DSDME is a promising pre-treatment method for the fast analysis of trace components in complicated matrices. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.