Protocol for the development of automated high-throughput SPME-GC methods for the analysis of volatile and semivolatile constituents in wine samples.

Ever since the invention of gas chromatography (GC), numerous efforts within the chromatographic community have been directed toward the development of fast GC methods. However, the developments in high-speed GC technologies have simultaneously created demand for the availability of compatible detection and sample preparation methods, so that the speed of the overall analytical process is increased. Solid phase micro extraction (SPME) is a sample preparation technique developed to address the need for rapid sample preparation. Therefore, the objective of this protocol is to outline recent developments in SPME technology that can be applied toward high-throughput automated qualitative and quantitative analyses of volatile and semivolatile compounds in wine samples. The use of this protocol facilitates routine high-throughput determinations of 200-500 analytes of different physicochemical properties with SPME step requiring only 10-15 min per sample.