Sorbent with a non-selective surface used almost exclusively to extract analytes from an aqueous solution. The sorbent has a largely passive role in the extraction, with the driving force being the expulsion of the organic contaminants from waterto minimize disruption of the water structure.
Notes: - Typical low-specificity sorbents are chemically-bonded porous silica, hydrophobic macroporous polymers, and various forms of carbon.
- Low-specificity sorbents have surfaces with a low concentration of polar functional groups and retain compounds mainly through non-selective dispersion interactions.
- From the gas phase compounds are extracted by non-polar and weakly polar interactions with high surface area sorbents.
Source:
PAC, 2016, 88, 517. 'Glossary of terms used in extraction (IUPAC Recommendations 2016)' on page 542 (https://doi.org/10.1515/pac-2015-0903)