Fluorous receptor-facilitated solid phase microextraction

Solid phase microextraction (SPME) is a widely accepted solvent-free extraction technique that usually uses a polymer sorbent as the extraction phase. In this work, we have developed receptor-doped fluorous films for solid phase microextraction. The hydrophobic and lipophobic properties of the fluorous films in principle reduce the polymer-water distribution coefficients of solutes other than those that can form noncovalent interactions with the fluorous receptor. This strategy should improve extraction selectivity. We found that the addition of a fluorous carboxylic acid (Krytox 157 FSH) to a fluorous film (Teflon AF 2400) increased the polymer-water distribution coefficients of quinoline, a nitrogen heterocycle. We studied the effects of receptor concentration and solute concentration on the distribution coefficients based on 96-well vessel SPME. We then coated this receptor doped fluorous polymer on a stainless steel fiber for SPME. Compared to a commonly used SPME fiber made of polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), it showed a preference for the nitrogen heterocyclic compound over a non-heterocyclic control, phenol. To our knowledge, this is the first reported receptor-doped fluorous SPME. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.