ASPEC™ – Automated SPE for Food Analysis

Whether your application is pharmaceutical, clinical, forensic, or environmental, SPE has become the technique of choice for sample cleanup, sample prep, and trace analyte enrichment due to its inherent versatility, selectivity, speed and low solvent usage. The GX-271 ASPEC is a single probe unit, however, if you require a faster throughput with parallel processing, the 4 probe GX-274 ASPEC will suit your needs.

To complement our automated SPE instrument range, Gilson offers a wide range of SPE cartridges and plates from Macherey-Nagel. Full details on these products can be found by visiting http://www.gilsonuk.com/catalogue/ChromatographyConsumables.  Amongst the many standard supports offered, are specialized supports such as the Chromabond QuEChERS, which is the leading method used for the determination of pesticides in food samples. QuEChERS are used in a non-retentive manner with no column wetting or conditioning necessary.

By pairing the QuEChERS cartridges with the Gilson GX-271/4 ASPEC, automated analysis of pesticides in food e.g. grapes, strawberries, is now a routine procedure. Gilson have prepared a custom, non-mobile rack to hold 40 cartridges per rack instead of the normal 16, and larger tubes can collect volumes up to 15mls. Samples are dispensed to the top of the column and allowed to drip through under gravity. The analyte of interest passes straight through the column and into the collection vial, while the impurities are retained on the column for disposal.