Direct solid-phase microextraction-mass spectrometry facilitates rapid analysis and green analytical chemistry

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is a simple, highly effective, green sample preparation technique that has been widely used in a variety of applications. SPME can be directly coupled with MS to enable fast readouts of the extracted analytes, thereby facilitating rapid determinations and creating the possibility of automation. The direct coupling of a high-throughput SPME system and MS enables rapid screening and quantitation, with analysis times as low as 10 s per sample. While SPME eliminates the need for lengthy sample preparation steps that typically require copious amounts of organic solvents, SPME-MS further improves the green aspects of SPME when compared with regular SPME-LC/GC-MS methods, as this configuration consumes much less organic solvent (few microliters per sample) or gas during the analytical process. This article provides an overview of the different SPME-MS direct coupling techniques and discusses new developments in each approach from both a technical and application standpoint.