Dispersive SPE (dSPE) 

Dispersive SPE (dSPE), often referred to as the “QuEChERS” method (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe), is an emerging sample prep technique that is becoming increasingly popular in the area of multi-residue pesticide analysis in food and agricultural products.

In dSPE, food/agricultural samples are first extracted with an aqueous miscible solvent (e.g., acetonitrile) in the presence of high amounts of salts (e.g., sodium chloride and magnesium sulfate) and/or buffering agents (e.g. citrate) to induce liquid phase separation and stabilize acid and base labile pesticides, respectively. Upon shaking and centrifugation, an aliquot of the organic phase is subjected to further clean up using SPE. Unlike traditional methods using SPE tubes, in dispersive SPE, clean up is facilitated by mixing bulk amounts of SPE (e.g., Supelclean PSA, ENVI-Carb, and/or Discovery DSC-18) with the extract. After sample clean up, the mixture is centrifuged and the resulting supernatant can either be analyzed directly or can be subjected to minor further treatment before analysis.

Supelco now carries a line of vials and centrifuge tubes containing pre-determined amounts of salts and SPE sorbents to support the most common method configurations used today.

Suitable for extracting 10-15 g food/agricultural sample. The high level of salts (e.g. magnesium sulfate) is to induce phase separation between the acetonitrile and aqueous sample layer.