Laboratory of Analytical Toxicology, Chemiphar NV, Lieven Bauwensstraat 4, Bruges, Belgium

Previously, the extraction of biological materials such as liver, kidney an other tissues required large amounts of solvents. Funnel extraction can use from 200 mL to 400 mL of solvent for most tissue samples. Recent and anticipated changes in environmental regulations will cause severe restrictions on the amount of solvent usage in laboratories worldwide. ASE was developed to meet the new requirements for reducing solvent usage in the preparation of tissue samples. The objective of this study was to evaluate wether this technique can be used for toxicological screening of postmortem samples such as liver and urine after disperging them with a solid phase.

Results
The use of ASE for the extraction of postmortem samples provides a more convenient, faster, and less solvent intensive method than previously available. Recoveries by ASE are equivalent to recoveries from other more solvent intense methods such as classic funnel extraction. ASE can extract a 4g sample of tissue in about 8 minutes with a total solvent consumption of approximately 10mL.

Conclusions
Accelerated solvent extraction seems to be a promising technique for a rapid and automated extraction of solid and liquid postmortem samples. Further experiments should focus on the study of the influence of the number of purging steps, the pressure and the amount of solvent used during the extraction procedure on the extraction recovery and the purity of the extract.