The anlaysis of hair samples allows for a much longer detection window than blood or urine analysis. In this study hair samples were fully processed using a PAL-RTC autosampler coupled to a GC-TOFMS. This allowed for automation of several essential steps of hair analysis including washing the hair, digestion of the hair, extraction of the compounds of interest, derivatisation of those compounds and finally injection into the GC. This study was focused on evaluation the most suitable extraction protocol, liquid-liquid and solid phase extractions were compared in terms percentage recovery utilising the fully automated method.
Emma Beasley, University of Sheffield