Do You Know Non-Sieve SPE Cartridges?

SPE is typically a sample preparation technique that uses chemical particles and chromatographic packing materials contained in a core-type device to chemically separate different components of a sample. Samples are almost always liquid, but special applications may use some of the samples in the gas phase. Figure 1 shows that a sample (shown in black) is being processed using an SPE device to separate each dye component that makes up the sample by chromatographic analysis.

A chromatographic bed can be used to separate different components in a sample, making subsequent analytical testing more successful. For example, SPE is commonly used to selectively remove interferents.

The exact name given to this technique from a technical point of view should be “liquid phase-solid phase extraction”; this is because the chromatographic particles are solid and the sample is in a liquid state. The basic chromatographic principle of liquid chromatography used here is the same as that of high-performance liquid chromatography, except that the form of use differs from the cause of use. Chromatography is used here to better prepare samples before they are submitted for analytical testing.

In terms of sample preparation, the source of the sample is very broad. They may be biological samples (eg plasma, saliva or urine), environmental samples (eg water, air or soil), foods (eg cereals, meat, and seafood), pharmaceuticals, nutritional supplement foods, beverages or industrial products. Even the head of a mosquito can be a sample! When scientists need to analyze neuropeptides extracted from the brains of mosquitoes, SPE is the preferred method of sample preparation

SPE (Solid Phase Extraction) solid-phase extraction is a popular pretreatment method for purifying liquid samples with solid adsorbents. Typically, SPE is used for purification, constant enrichment, desalination, derivatization, and separation prior to quantification by chromatography or other analytical methods.

What are the advantages of SPE compared to traditional LLE?
The effects of SPE and LLE (liquid-liquid extraction) are similar. LLE is an immiscible liquid two-phase extraction, while SPE extracts substances from the liquid phase to solid phase adsorption. The characteristics of SPE over LLE are:

● Avoid emulsification
● Two-phase separation is simpler and easier to operate
● Higher recovery and better purification
● Use less solvent
● A wide range of adsorbents, more selective than LLE
● Ability to automate experiments and increase throughput

What is non-sieve SPE cartridge
You must be familiar with SPE and SPE cartridge. But do you know what non-sieve SPE cartridge is? It is a one-piece new SPE cartridge. This product uses the unique technology to specially process the bonded silica fillers such as C18 and C8 so that it has high mechanical strength and toughness. It is not necessary to add polyethylene porous baffles as support in the cartridge.

Compared with the traditional SPE cartridge, non-sieve SPE cartridge reduces the channeling effect during the separation process and avoids the interference of the non-specific adsorption of the porous baffle, thereby improving the separation efficiency and the amount of sample loading.

Highlights of SPE cartridge
1. No sieve plate, which avoids the “non-specific adsorption” caused by the sieve plate excellently.
2. The packing is stable and can be good, there will be no problems such as loose packing.
3. With the integrated design, it is able to effectively avoids the “ditch effect”.
4. The optional particle size as low as 8-10μ, greatly improving the separation efficiency and load capacity.