Inside-tube solid-phase microextraction as an interlink between solid-phase microextraction and needle device for...

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Environmental Science

Background:

• Monitoring trace chemicals in diverse matrices presents significant analytical challenges.
• Existing methods for n-hexane analysis require improvement in sensitivity and efficiency.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop and validate a new inside-tube solid-phase microextraction (SPME) system for the sensitive determination of trace n-hexane.
• To evaluate the performance of the developed SPME system in air and urine matrices.

Main Methods:

• The inside-tube SPME system was fabricated using a carbon aerogel and polystyrene mixture within a needle, employing phase separation and methanol as an anti-solvent.
• N-hexane in air was sampled from a Tedlar bag at 0.1 L/min, while urine samples were spiked to simulate real-world conditions.

Main Results:

• The inside-tube SPME achieved a limit of detection of 0.0003 μg/sample with 2.5 mg adsorbent, significantly lower than the packed needle method (0.004 μg/sample with 5 mg).
• Excellent analytical performance was demonstrated with day-to-day and within-day coefficients of variation below 1.37% and recoveries exceeding 98.41%.

Conclusions:

• The inside-tube SPME system serves as an effective inter-link device, combining features of needle trap devices and conventional SPME.
• This developed system offers a simple, rapid, and cost-effective approach for the trace analysis of n-hexane in environmental and biological samples.