Automating solid-phase extraction: current aspects and future prospects

This paper reviews current trends and techniques in automated solid-phase extraction. The area has shown a dramatic growth the number of manuscripts published over the last 10 years, including applications in environmental science, food science, clinical chemistry, pharmaceutical bioanalysis, forensics, analytical biochemistry and organic synthesis. This dramatic increase of more that 100% per year can be attributed to the commercial availability of higher throughput 96-well workstations and extraction plates that allow numerous samples to be processed simultaneously. These so-called parallel-processing workstations represent the highest throughput systems currently available. The advantages and limitations of other types of systems, including discrete column systems and on-line solid-phase extraction are also discussed. Discussions of how automated solid-phase extractions can be developed, generic approaches to automated solid-phase extraction, and three noteworthy examples of automated extractions are given. The last part of the review suggests possible near- and long-term directions of automated solid-phase extraction.