One of the important aspects of sample pretreatment is the pre-concentration step. In a sample, analytes are often present in trace levels and pretreatment procedures with high enrichment factor are needed.
This work describes the practical aspects of novel dispersed sorbent sorptive extraction (DSSE) method that uses dispersed sorbent for analyte extraction and not for matrix suppression as is typical in QuEChERS. The DSSE was used for the extraction of gingerols, family of active substances in ginger samples, before fast HPLC separation.
Using presented extraction method, a high pre-concentration factor (up to 50) of analytes was reached. The separation method using fused-core phenyl-hexyl stationary phase and mobile phase composed of 50 % acetonitrile in water in isocratic mode was developed and validated.
Advantages and disadvantages of DSSE and pitfalls during the method development and optimization will be discussed.