High throughput extraction platform for the analysis of organic compounds in solid and semi-solid matrices

有机小分子在生态系统功能中起着重要作用。例如，细菌和植物获取微量营养素（即微量金属）对于氮等主要营养素的循环和生物量的生产至关重要。这种金属的获取通常依赖于小有机分子（金属螯合剂）的释放，这些小有机分子通过与土壤中的天然金属络合物竞争来积极地吸收感兴趣的金属。除了这些对生物圈有益的有机小分子外，其他人类制造的有机小分子，如抗生素和杀虫剂，也会对生态系统的健康产生负面影响。这些有机污染物在土壤中的命运和影响仍然知之甚少。 我们的多学科研究团队由来自化学，生物学和环境工程的七名研究人员组成。我们开展了环境中有机小分子动力学的创新研究，包括（i）植物-细菌共生体对痕量金属的作用，（ii）土壤和沉积物中有机污染物（OC）的移动性和生物利用度，（iii）OC与植物根部微生物之间的相互作用，（iv）受有机氯化合物污染的昆虫对燕子种群的影响，以及（v）动物组织中有机氯化合物的存在与致癌作用之间的联系。 我们的研究依赖于提取通常与这些复杂的环境基质（例如土壤，组织）紧密结合的小有机分子。用于液体基质的传统提取方法未能达到提取这些感兴趣分子所需的必要效率。所要求的设备由加压液体提取器组成，是目前最先进的方法，用于从难溶性和复杂的环境基质中提取有机小分子。该设备用途广泛，可从各种固体基质中提取各类化合物。这种多功能性是必不可少的，以支持我们的多学科研究。所要求的设备具有高通量能力，这是支持我们研究产生的大量样品所不可或缺的。 我们的研究对加拿大的好处是多方面的;我们关于小有机分子在细菌-植物共生体金属获取中的作用的工作将有助于提高生物质生产，并允许进一步发展植物提取和污染场地的植被重建。我们对业主立案法团的环境命运的研究将提供制定可持续战略所需的基本知识，以保护关键的生态系统服务，如供水和土壤质量，植物生产。它还将有助于更好地评估OCs对野生动物和人类的影响，帮助决策者实施适当的立法。

Small organic molecules play an important role on ecosystems function. For instance, the acquisition of micronutrients (i.e. trace metals) by bacteria and plants is critical to the cycling of major nutrient such as nitrogen and the production of biomass. This acquisition of metal often rely on the release of small organic molecules (metal chelating agents) that actively recruit metal of interest by competing with natural metal-complexes in soil. Besides these small organic molecules that are beneficial to the biosphere, other human made small organic molecules, such as antibiotics and pesticides, can have a negative impact on ecosystems health. The fate and impact of these organic contaminants in soils remain poorly understood. Our multidisciplinary research team is composed of seven researchers from Chemistry, Biology and Environmental Engineering. We develop innovative research on small organic molecule dynamics in the environment, including (i) the role small organic ligands on trace metal menagment by plant-bacteria symbioses, (ii) the mobility and bioavailability of organic contaminants (OCs) in soils and sediments, (iii) the interaction between OCs and plant root microorganisms, (iv) the impact of insects contaminated with OCs on swallow populations and (v) the link between the presence of OCs in animal tissues and carcinogenesis. Our research rely on the extraction of small organic molecules that are often tightly bound to these complex environmental matrices (e.g. soil, tissues). Traditional extraction methods, used for liquid matrices, fail short to achieve the necessary efficiency required to extract these molecules of interest. The requested equipment composed of a pressurized liquid extractor is the current state-of-the-art approach for small organic molecules extraction from recalcitrant and complex environmental matrices. This equipment is very versatile allowing the extraction of various class of compounds from a wide array of solid matrices. This versatility is indispensable to support our multidisciplinary research. The requested equipment comes with high throughput capability indispensable to support the large amount of samples generated by our research. The benefice of our research to Canada are numerous; Our work on the role of small organic molecules on metal acquisition by bacteria-plant symbioses will contribute to improve biomass production and allow further development in phytoextraction and revegetation of contaminated sites. Our research on the environmental fate of OCs will provide the fundamental knowledge required to develop sustainable strategies to protect critical ecosystem services such as water supply and soil quality, plant production. It will also contribute to better evaluate the impact of OCs on wildlife and humans helping decision makers implementing appropriated legislations.