Supelco only manufactures SPME since its invention and subsequent applications in the field of analytical chemistry. Moreover, you do not have other manufacturer/ choice as of now.

Dear Debarshi Roy,

This depends on the fiber coating and whether you will do manual or automated SPME extractions.

For manual SPME with PDMS coated fibers it is possible to order "naked" fibers (fiber without device) from an optical fiber Company. We ordered such fibers from Fiberguide and Polymicro at typical prices of 1000-2000 $ per 1000 meter of fiber. We have then used them for different SPME methods and particularly "matrix-SPME". We have published the first papers in ES&T and Analytical Chemistry in the year 2000, and other groups have worked with such fibers since then.   

For automated SPME, I find the price from Supelco very reasonable. We are using one device for several hundreds of samples in Head Space SPME mode, which gives a very low price per sample.

Best regards

Philipp Mayer

Hello Debarshi - the SPME patent exclusivity to Supelco expired couple of years ago.  This means that other companies have been considering this market (and already making and marketing SPME).  See for example, Restek:

http://www.restek.com/catalog/view/47352

Restek also recently developed Arrow SPME (much sturdier, larger diameter (0.75 mm), large volume coating (up to 250 um), 'arrow' tip that minimizes septum coring) prototype as well. 

There is a lot more interest in developing new SPME coatings and most likely this will be followed with new SPME fiber products on the market.  This is good news for end-users regarding cost issues. 

Good luck with your research,

Jacek

http://www.restek.com/catalog/view/47352

My research group has developed very inexpensive and highly robust intube SPME that out perform the currrent commercial fibres. I can provide you with a sample to try.

Samuel M. Mugo

Hi Samuel, I just saw this discussion and your recent answer. Do you think that your SPME solution could work with peptides...? Supelco has some coatings with C18 residues, but I'm not sure if other materials could work to extract peptides (especially from complex biological samples, e.g. serum). I'm thinking about manual processing, as we lack automation solutions.

If it could work I'm very interested to try :)