Investigations into alternatives to SPME for purposes of pheromone detection

CHED 191

Andrew Martinez, smitc@lake.ollusa.edu and Charles A. Smith. Department of Chemistry, Our Lady of the Lake University, 411 S.W. 24th Street, San Antonio, TX 78207
A modern tool commonly used to perform solventless extractions is solid phase micro-extraction, SPME. Some SPME methods have a detection limit of up to parts per trillion. Even with this ability to detect such small concentrations, SPME is not sensitive enough to analyze small chemical concentrations such as pheromones released by many organisms. Even though several pheromones have been analyzed with SPME, many remain undiscovered because of their low concentrations. Developing a tool that can be used to detect such minuscule amounts of analyte can lead to many research opportunities such as pheromone detection. The objective of this investigation is to develop an ultra sensitive tool that can be used to detect chemical concentrations below the detection limits of present SPME methods.
 

Undergraduate Research Poster Session: Analytical Chemistry
2:30 PM-4:30 PM, Monday, 11 September 2006 Moscone Center -- Hall D, Poster

Division of Chemical Education

The 232nd ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, September 10-14, 2006