History and Future of Solid-Phase Extraction

As early as the 1930s, silica, alumina, Florisil, and kieselguhr (diatomaceous earth) were used as solid sorbents for normal-phase sample concentration, for what would now be called normal-phase SPE. The next major development occurred in 1941 when Martin and Synge (Nobel Prize for work in chromatography) published their work on partition chromatography. They 

1950 Reversed-phase chromatography widespread use of charcoal as a sorbent 1960 Bonded sorbents synthesized 1968 Polymeric sorbents, XAD resins developed 

1973 Gilpin and Burke (1973) develop chlorosilane bonded phases for HPLC 

1974 XAD resins used for trace organic contaminants in water (Junk and others, 

1985 Proliferation of manufacturers and new SPE phases, such as mixed mode 1989 3M introduces the disk format for SPE 

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