Ultrafast Screening and Quantitation of Pesticides in Food and Environmental Matrices by Solid-Phase Microextraction–Transmission Mode (SPME-TM) and Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART)

The direct interface of microextraction technologies to mass spectrometry (MS) has unquestionably revolutionized the speed and efficacy at which complex matrices are analyzed. Solid Phase Micro Extraction–Transmission Mode (SPME-TM) is a technology conceived as an effective synergy between sample preparation and ambient ionization. Succinctly, the device consists of a mesh coated with polymeric particles that extracts analytes of interest present in a given sample matrix. This coated mesh acts as a transmission-mode substrate for Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART), allowing for rapid and efficient thermal desorption/ionization of analytes previously concentrated on the coating, and dramatically lowering the limits of detection attained by sole DART analysis. In this study, we present SPME-TM as a novel tool for the ultrafast enrichment of pesticides present in food and environmental matrices and their quantitative determination by MS via DART ionization. Limits of quantitation in the subnanogram per mill...