Solid-Phase Microextraction and Related Techniques in Bioanalysis

Dear Colleagues,

Bioanalysis of endogenous substances, drugs and their metabolites, disease biomarkers, contaminants, poisons, etc. is important in biological function analysis, metabolomics, new drug development, therapeutic drug monitoring, doping control, forensic toxicology, patient diagnosis and the biomonitoring of human exposure to hazardous chemicals. In these analyses, sample preparation is essential for the isolation and concentration of target analytes from complex biological matrices, such as serum/plasma, urine, saliva, hair, nail, sweat, exhaled breath, and tissue. However, this process is time-consuming, labor-intensive and error-prone, and markedly influences the reliability and accuracy of determining molecules of interest. Thus, efficient sample preparation techniques and their integration with various analytical instruments have become a significant challenge.

Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) is a simple and convenient sample preparation technique that has enabled automation, miniaturization, high-throughput performance, and online coupling with analytical instruments. Moreover, SPME has reduced analysis times, as well as the costs of solvents and disposal. Since SPME was first introduced in the early 1990s by Arthur and Pawliszyn, more robust fiber assemblies and coatings with higher extraction efficiencies, selectivity and stability have been commercialized. Furthermore, new geometries have been designed to use capillary tubes, magnetic stir bars or thin films for extraction devices rather than fibers, and novel intelligent polymer coatings with great sorption capacity or good selectivity have been developed as extraction phases.

This Special Issue will include a wide range of topics covering not only the development of SPME and related techniques and their applications for bioanalysis, but also the development of new extraction devices and novel intelligent coating materials available for bioanalytical, biomimetic and biocompatible sample preparation. I hope that scientists will find the selected up-to-date topics regarding sample preparation of interest, and that additional ideas and new technologies may emerge from this Special Issue.

Prof. Dr. Hiroyuki Kataoka
Guest Editor

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