Automating solid-phase extraction: current aspects and future prospects

This paper reviews current trends and techniques in automated solid-phase e xtraction. The area has shown a dramatic growth the number of manuscripts p ublished over the last 10 years, including applications in environmental sc ience, food science, clinical chemistry, pharmaceutical bioanalysis, forens ics, analytical biochemistry and organic synthesis, This dramatic increase of more that 100% per year can be attributed to the commercial availability of higher throughput 96-well workstations and extraction plates that allow numerous samples to be processed simultaneously. These so-called parallel- processing workstations represent the highest throughput systems currently available. The advantages and limitations of other types of systems, includ ing discrete column systems and on-line solid-phase extraction are also dis cussed. Discussions of how automated solid-phase extractions can be develop ed, generic approaches to automated solid-phase extraction, and three notew orthy examples of automated extractions are given. The last part of the rev iew suggests possible near- and long-term directions of automated solid-pha se extraction. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.