SWIEET-a salt-free alternative to QuEChERS

Area of Science:

• Analytical Chemistry
• Environmental Chemistry
• Separation Science

Background:

• Efficient extraction of diverse analytes, particularly polar and charged compounds, from complex matrices remains a significant challenge in analytical chemistry.
• Established methods like QuEChERS (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe) face limitations including low recoveries for charged analytes and interference from high salt concentrations.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a novel extraction method that overcomes the limitations of QuEChERS, enhancing the recovery of polar and charged analytes.
• To introduce the Sugar Water Isopropanol Ethyl Nitrile Extraction Technique (SWIEET) as a superior alternative for sample preparation.

Main Methods:

• Developed SWIEET, utilizing "sugaring-out" with glucose for phase separation of water and acetonitrile, enhanced by isopropanol.
• Optimized glucose and isopropanol concentrations, and temperature using a design of experiment.
• Investigated further improvements via electro- or double-extractions.

Main Results:

• SWIEET demonstrated significantly higher extraction efficiencies and precision across various matrices (water, soil, food, oats) compared to QuEChERS.
• Achieved 75% average recovery for polar analytes from wastewater effluent using SWIEET, versus 37% with QuEChERS.
• Showcased superior performance for polar and charged compounds, exemplified by higher metformin recovery and lower standard deviations.

Conclusions:

• SWIEET effectively addresses major drawbacks of QuEChERS, offering improved analyte recovery and precision.
• The method is versatile, applicable to both liquid and solid samples, and simplifies sample preparation by eliminating solid phases and salt weighing.