Sample Preparation
Definition
The set of steps between the sealed evidence container and the instrument autosampler vial: extraction, clean-up, concentration, derivatisation, dilution, internal standard addition. Sample preparation typically accounts for 60 to 70 percent of the total analysis time in a CFSL toxicology workflow and is the single largest source of variability in the final result.
Related terms
- Confirmatory Technique
- An instrumental method capable of identifying a specific molecule with sufficient selectivity to be admissible in court. The accepted gold standards are...
- Hyphenated Technique
- A single workflow that couples a separation method to a spectroscopic detector, so a complex mixture is resolved and each component identified...
- Instrumental Technique
- An analytical method that uses an instrument to detect, identify or quantitate an analyte, distinguished from classical wet-chemistry methods such as titration,...
- Limit of Detection (LOD)
- The lowest concentration of analyte that produces a signal reliably distinguishable from the instrument noise, conventionally three times the standard deviation of...
- Presumptive Test
- A fast, low-cost, class-specific screen used to triage a caseload before instrumental work begins. Examples are Marquis reagent for opioids and amphetamines,...
Explained in
- Introduction and Scope of Instrumental Techniques in Forensic ScienceThe set of steps between the sealed evidence container and the instrument autosampler vial: extraction, clean-up, concentration, derivatisation, dilution, inte...