A Short History of Analytical-Scale MAE

The ability of microwaves to heat water very fast was discovered during the Second World War and the first application of microwaves in the field of sample preparation was described in 1975. Microwave energy was used for the digestion of biological samples in Erlenmeyer flasks. The digestion time was decreased from 1-2 hours to 5 min to 15 min. 

FIGURE 2.23 Number of studies utilizing the MAE technique during the last 7 years. (Source CALPUS and MEDLINE databases.) 

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