Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE)

Accelerated solvent extraction, or ASE, is a sample preparation technique that helps generate high quality chromatographic results by using organic solvents at high temperatures and pressures to quickly and efficiently remove unwanted matrix components from your sample. The elevated temperature increases the efficiency of extracting analytes from the matrix. The increased pressure keeps the solvent liquid, even as the temperature surpasses its boiling point. The lower solvent viscosity improves the diffusion of analyte into the solvent, making extraction faster and more efficient. Ultimately, this technique supplies a cleaner sample for separation and detection of sample components during downstream chromatographic analysis, providing more accurate results.

ASE is accepted in US EPA Method 3454A for extracting PAHs and semivolatile compounds, PCBs, dioxins, furans, TPH and explosive compounds as well as in CLP OLM 04.2A for semivolatiles and pesticides.

This technique can be used to analyze food products for pesticide residues, lipids after acid hydrolysis, fat and additive content, and flavor profiles. It can also be used to help verify that supplements like St. John’s wort, echinacea, and ginko biloba meet industry guidelines.

Instruments can be used to automate the ASE process, mitigating variability inherent in manual sample preparation and ensuring reproducible results. Automation makes ASE a fast, safe and easy process. Where traditional techniques like Soxhlet and sonication take 8-10 hours and hundreds of milliliters of solvent, automated ASE requires just 15-30 minutes and 10-30 mL of solvent, depending on the application, and allows samples to be extracted overnight.