Choosing and developing an extraction method

Extraction efficiency

The expected extraction efficiency depends on the application concerned. Depending on the case, the aim is either to extract as many compounds of interest as possible (a high diversity of molecules without necessarily being exhaustive for each one – qualitative efficiency of extraction), or to completely extract one or several compounds of interest – quantitative efficiency of extraction.

When a quantitative estimation of the extraction efficiency is intended (e.g. quantitative analysis of the compound in the sample), the following can be approximated: (i) the quantity of extracted coumpound (expressed as chromatographic peak area or as mg/kg of sample), or (ii) the extraction recovery (expressed as a percentage of initial quantity of solute in the matrix – 100% is equal to a complete extraction of the compound).