Dispersive SPE (dSPE), often referred to as the "QuEChERS" method (Quick, Easy, Cheap, Effective, Rugged, and Safe), is modern sample prep technique that is becoming increasingly popular in the area of multi-residue pesticide analysis in food and agricultural products.

Using the QuEChERS method, food/agricultural samples are first extracted with an aqueous miscible solvent (e.g., acetonitrile) in the presence of high amounts of salts (e.g., sodium chloride and magnesium sulfate) and/or buffering agents (e.g. citrate) to induce liquid phase separation and stabilize acid and base labile pesticides, respectively. Upon shaking and centrifugation, an aliquot of the organic phase is subjected to further cleanup using SPE. Unlike traditional methods using SPE tubes, in dispersive SPE, cleanup is facilitated by mixing bulk amounts of SPE (e.g., Supelclean PSA, ENVI-Carb, and/or Discovery DSC-18) with the extract. After sample cleanup, the mixture is centrifuged and the resulting supernatant can either be analyzed directly or can be subjected to minor further treatment before analysis.

Supelco carries a line of vials and centrifuge tubes containing pre-determined amounts of salts and SPE sorbents to support the most common method configurations used today.

Supel^™ QuE is used as the unbuffered salt tube for the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, safe (QuEChERS) extraction and analysis of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons in foods using gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry.

Supel is a trademark of Sigma-Aldrich Co. LLC