Fiber-in-tube solid-phase microextraction: a fibrous rigid-rod heterocyclic polymer as the extraction medium

A novel "fiber-in-tube" configuration has been applied to the extraction tu be of solid phase microextraction (SPME), and the direct coupling of the ex traction process to liquid chromatography (LC) has been accomplished for th e analysis of n-butylphthalate in wastewater. By using this fiber-in-tube S PME/LC system the preconcentration factor for the phthalate was about 160 w ith 20 min extraction and no interference peak was observed in the chromato gram The results also showed the potential applications of this fiber-in-tu be SPME/LC for the analysis of sub-ppb level (i.e., lower than 1 ng/mL) of various organic analytes in aqueous sample matrix without a large solvent c onsumption during the preconcentration process.