ASPECTS: an automation-assisted SPE method development system

Abstract

Background: A typical conventional SPE method development (MD) process usually involves deciding the chemistry of the sorbent and eluent based on information about the analyte; experimentally preparing and trying out various combinations of adsorption chemistry and elution conditions; quantitatively evaluating the various conditions; and comparing quantitative results from all combination of conditions to select the best condition for method qualification. The second and fourth steps have mostly been performed manually until now. Results: We developed an automation-assisted system that expedites the conventional SPE MD process by automating 99% of the second step, and expedites the fourth step by automatically processing the results data and presenting it to the analyst in a user-friendly format. Conclusion: The automation-assisted SPE MD system greatly saves the manual labor in SPE MD work, prevents analyst errors from causing misinterpretation of quantitative results, and shortens data analysis and interpretation time.