Stir bar sorptive extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry analysis of tetramethylene disulfotetramine in food: Method development and comparison to solid-phase microextraction.

A stir bar sorptive extraction-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (SBSE-GC-MS) method for the determination of tetramethylene disulfotetramine is presented. The limits of detection (LOD) of the optimized method was 0.2ngg(-1) for extractions from water and 0.3-2.1ngg(-1) for extractions from foods. Recovery was highly matrix dependent (36-130%) and quantification required standard addition calibrations. Standard addition calibration lines had high linearity (R(2)>0.97) and replicate extractions had good reproducibility (R.S.D.=4.4-9.8%). A comparison of the SBSE method and a previously developed headspace (HS)-solid-phase microextraction (SPME) method was performed. Generally, SBSE provided higher sensitivity with decreased analysis time.