Assessment of environmental pollutants at trace levels using ionic liquids-based liquid-phase microextraction

Abstract

Sample preparation is the crucial and most challenging part of analytical chemistry for the speciation of environmental pollutants’ traces. Along with the development of the sample preparation methods, the ionic liquid-based microextraction technique plays an important role. Due to the unequivocally unique “green” characteristic of ionic liquids (ILs), they owe their tunable properties, such as highly selective and high reaction efficiency, reusability, and good thermal stability, to present advancements in the sample preparation process. The ionic liquid-based microextraction techniques miniaturize the sample preparation process. Liquid phase microextraction intermediate solvents, desorption solvent extractants, and mediators have been used. They are quoting the benefits and limitations of each method. A few essential sample preparation methods covered the microextraction technique. In this context, miniaturized microextraction methods have been developed. They are generally used for their unlimited positive features, including easy, simple, and environmentally friendly; they also extract inorganic and organic species with low-cost instrumentation. This review advances the sample preparation process using ILs-based liquid phase microextraction as an intermediate solvent, extractant desorption, and mediator solvents.