Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction: A Versatile, Sensitive and Robust Technique for Targeted and Untargeted Analyses

Abstract

Developed in the late 1990s, stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE) has become a very powerful extraction and enrichment technique for the determination of organic compounds in a large variety of liquid, semi-liquid and solid matrices. Based on the same sorptive extraction fundamentals as solid phase micro-extraction (SPME), SBSE had found its way to research and routine laboratories since coated stir bars and dedicated desorption equipment have become commercially available. In this chapter, the development, fundamentals, workflows and new modes of SBSE are discussed. Most attention is paid to the use of stir bars coated with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), since these sorptive extraction devices have proven robustness and can be considered a valuable tool in an analytical toolbox.