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 0.2 ng g−1 for extractions from water and 0.3–2.1 ng g−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 (R2 > 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.