Magnetic in-tube solid phase microextraction.

We report a new in-tube solid phase microextraction approach named magnetic in-tube solid phase microextraction, magnetic-IT-SPME. Magnetic-IT-SPME has been developed, taking advantage of magnetic microfluidic principles with the aim to improve extraction efficiency of IT-SPME systems. First, a magnetic hybrid material formed by Fe(3)O(4) nanoparticles supported on SiO(2) was synthesized and immobilized in the surface of a bared fused silica capillary column to obtain a magnetic adsorbent extraction phase. The capillary column was placed inside a magnetic coil that allowed the application of a variable magnetic field. Acetylsalicylic acid, acetaminophen, atenolol, diclofenac, and ibuprofen were tested as target analytes. The application of a controlled magnetic field resulted in quantitative extraction efficiencies of the target analytes between 70 and 100%. These results demonstrated that magnetic forces solve the low extraction efficiency (10-30%) of IT-SPME systems, which is one of their main drawbacks.