Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Flumetralin from Tobacco Samples

Despite the great arsenal of analytical techniques, the success of detection, identification and quantitation of pesticide residues depends initially on the analyte extraction and/or concentration method. These methods are the most problematic step in the chemical analyses of real world samples. Not only is the majority of total analysis time spent in sample preparation, but it is also the most error-prone and the most labor-intensive task in the laboratory (
1
). The target analyte to be separated from the matrix is usually taken up by an auxiliary substance such as a gas, a solvent and an adsorbent. These separation processes can be regarded as extraction procedures performed with liquid solvents and either a Soxhlet apparatus or sonicator. These extractions may require several hours or even days to perform, use large volumes of ultrapure solvents, and often fail to yield quantitative extraction and recovery of target analytes.