DUAL INJECTOR SOLVENT ELUTION AND FOCUSING TECHNIQUE FOR THE ONLINE ANALYSIS OF SOLID-PHASE EXTRACTION CARTRIDGES IN HPLC

A new dual injector solvent focussing and elution technique developed for high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) greatly improves chromatographic efficiency for the on-line analysis of C18 solid-phase extraction (SPE) cartridges. Solutions containing three benzene homologs were used to characterize the dual injector analysis technique and to compare the chromatographic efficiency of this method with conventional SPE analysis methods. Sampling was performed off-line using a glass precolumn cartridge (3 mm i.d. x 30 mm) packed with 15-35 mum C18 silica. On-line cartridge analysis was achieved with two injection valves in either serial or parallel configuration. The injection loop of the first valve contains the eluting solvent, and the cartridge holder is connected in place of the injection loop of the second valve. When an injection is made, both valves are turned to the inject position, and the solvent plug is forced through the cartridge, focussing the analyte at the solvent front as it elutes the cartridge. Solvent focussing at the head of the column, resulting from preconditioning of the column with a small plug of water during injection, further minimizes the variance of the injection plug and improves the chromatographic efficiency. The technique has potential applications to environmental and biological fluid analysis where analyte preconcentration and resolution' from the sample matrix components may be difficult with current SPE methods.