Trends in Environmental Analytical Chemistry最新文献

The wastewater-based epidemiology approach, popular for estimating illicit drug use, has been used to evaluate lifestyle habits such as alcohol, tobacco and caffeine consumption, health biomarkers including pharmaceuticals, plasticizers and flame retardants, and recently to track SARS-CoV-2 at the population level. Equally, the number of WBE studies investigating psychoactive pharmaceuticals such as antidepressants, antipsychotics and benzodiazepines has also increased, which can be connected to the overall growth of psychological disorders worldwide. This review aims to discuss novelties in sampling techniques and analytical methodologies, including sample preparation and analysis, developed for estimating the consumption of psychoactive pharmaceuticals in defined populations. Seventy-four peer-reviewed studies monitoring psychoactive pharmaceutical consumption published since 2010 have been systematically reviewed. Its findings show that a broad range of bioanalytical methodologies is used to simultaneously measure several antidepressants, antipsychotics, benzodiazepines, and their metabolites from influent wastewater samples in low concentrations and different time periods. The application of WBE commenting on the temporal and spatial variations worldwide, showing widespread consumption, is also discussed. Despite much progress and excellent studies, there remains a need for research, and deeper knowledge is needed to reduce method uncertainty, especially since excretion rates, their transformation, and in-sewer and in-sample stability for many psychoactive pharmaceutical biomarkers are not available.

Heavy metal ion-containing pollution has drawn a lot of attention. It presents thoughtful risks to the human situation and environmental system. Nanotechnologies can control, create, and measure objects on a molecular and atomic size between 1 and 100 nm. Their surface area to volume ratio is high. These are the most practical and are to blame for the easy accessibility, particularly for environmental cleanup. The nanocomposites have proven to offer remarkable qualities as platforms for heavy metal detection sensing. Monitoring the water quality is one of the key concerns of researchers in the modern period. Heavy metal contamination is a significant issue and poses a risk to ecological preservation. Due to this, several efforts are being made in present to develop sensitive, quick, and selective sensors. Reversibility, high specificity, and sensitivity are three unique and intriguing characteristics of colorimetric sensors that have grown in popularity. The particular features of nanomaterials, such as those based on metal and metal oxide, polymers, and carbon, make them beneficial for cleaning up the environment. We examined the most recent (2010–2022) advancements in metal composites for the treatment of metal ions in contaminated water in this review study.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a large group of synthetic chemicals used in many commercial products and applications such as polymers, fire-retarding foams, cookware and food packaging. PFAS pose significant threats to the environment and human health because of their high stability, potential toxicity and persistence in the environment. This review summarizes the status of analytical methods for detection of the broad spectrum of PFAS. Conventional analytical techniques are first described with focus on chromatographic/mass spectrometry methods, semi-quantitative approaches and passive samplers. Emerging colorimetric, spectrofluorometric and electrochemical methods, and field-deployable sensors are then reviewed, highlighting novel detection mechanisms, analytical performance and potential towards achieving low cost detection in environmental samples. Their low cost and portability can enable greater spatial and temporal data resolution and provide a more comprehensive characterization and screening of PFAS-containing samples, but require further development to reach detection at the regulatory permissible limits. Potential applications and a critical assessment of future needs and opportunities to translate these technologies into the field are discussed.

Primary aromatic amines (PAAs) are a large group of organic compounds characterized by the presence of an amino group attached to one or more aryl substituents. These compounds are released into the environment from diverse sources, and have been of concern because of its carcinogenic and mutagenic activity. Therefore, their quantification is essential to obtain information on their presence and, therefore, to reduce the harmful effects on humans. Sample preparation techniques play an outstanding role in the development of analytical methods to achieve this goal. Mainly, sorbent-based extraction and solvent-based microextraction techniques have been applied for the sensitive determination of PAAs in environmental matrices. This review covers articles based on the development and application of such techniques for the extraction and preconcentration of these compounds in water, soil and air samples, published between 2010 and 2022. In addition, the recent advances and future challenges in applying these techniques for extracting PAAs are discussed.

Paralytic shellfish toxins (PSTs) are natural toxins produced by some microorganisms, especially during harmful algal blooms (HABs). Molluscs and other marine animals can accumulate significant amounts of these toxins, causing food poisoning. Due to the seriousness of this poisoning, the European Union has established a concentration limit and an official method based on liquid chromatography for their analysis. PSTs are very challenging analytes due to their very high polarity and occurrence of different isomers with varying toxicity towards humans. Current available extraction methods are adapted from a previous existing bioassay and not fully validated yet. Recovery efficiencies of the extraction procedure are occasionally low, and further clean-up can lead to highly variable results depending on the toxin and the matrix analysed. Detection of PSTs by mass spectrometry offers the ability to identify all toxins in a single analysis, which is an improvement over the current official method based on fluorescence detection prior derivatisation. As a drawback, normal phase chromatography is required, which tend to be less robust that more conventionally used reversed-phase chromatography used in the official method. New extraction techniques and recent advances in the mass spectrometry field (e.g., high-resolution mass spectrometry and ion mobility) have been barely applied yet to the analysis of PSTs. An increase in the frequency and extension of HABs due to global warming will lead to more severe impacts on health, environment and economy in coastal areas. An improvement of current existing analytical methods is therefore needed to allow for a faster and more accurate monitoring of PSTs.

In the past 20 years, green analytical procedures have attracted much attention from all walks of life, including analytical chemistry. The conversion to green analytical chemistry (GAC) requires the establishment of novel, more effective procedures compared to conventional methods. Improving sample preparation, design procedures, solvent quantities, and accurate assessment are the best ways to follow the principles of GAC. The current review focuses on the influential factors in greenness, like the design, applications, instrumentals, green features, and greenness measurement of the solidified floating organic drop microextraction (SFODME) method for toxic metals. Using various solvents, such as ionic liquids, deep eutectic solvents, and biomolecules, we formed more environmentally solidified floating organic drop microextraction modes. The green analytical procedure index (GAPI) and analytical greenness (AGREE) are two green assessment tools used to evaluate and compare the greenness of a solidified floating organic drop microextraction for various modes. The two scales (GAPI and AGREE) are very simple and accurate. They focus on several factors, such as the collection of samples, chemical amounts, time analysis, energy, occupational danger, waste, and others. Future developments were also investigated.

This study proposes a methodology for the characterization of plant protection products (PPPs) based on suspect and unknown analyses. This was divided in three main stages: sample preparation, separation and detection, and data analysis. Sample preparation was based on dilute and shoot strategies employing different solvents depending on both the type of compounds and the type of PPPs to be analyzed. Chromatographic techniques, as liquid (LC) and gas chromatography (GC), coupled with high resolution mass spectrometry (HRMS) analyzers are used for the separation and detection stage. HRMS allowed a huge number of possibilities in terms of data acquisition, and this work reveals the most suitable options and the principal parameters to maximize the number of features and to perform an accurate detection. Finally, tips and recommendations to perform data analysis are indicated, providing the pre-processing and processing strategies to perform suspect screening and unknown analysis.

Incomplete reduction of oxygen produces reactive oxygen species (ROS) or intermediates. Hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂), superoxide (O₂^•−), hydroxyl radical (^•OH), and hypochlorite (ClO^-) are examples of ROS. Peroxynitrite (ONOO⁻) belongs to reactive nitrogen species. Recent studies are evidenced that they play crucial roles in cell signaling and tissue homeostasis. Further, ROS are recognized as oxidizing chemical species for various biochemical pathways (oxidative stress and damage of organisms) and as scavengers for various environmental applications. Herein, the recent progress of nanomaterials as optical sensors for colorimetric and fluorescence sensing of reactive oxygen species is discussed. This review also provides the analytical features of nanomaterials-based colorimetric and fluorescent sensors for sensing of ROS in real samples (biological and environmental samples). Additionally, the future prospects of nanomaterials-based colorimetric and fluorescent sensors for the detection of ROS are discussed.

Ionic liquids (ILs) are important materials used in several fields due to their unique thermophysical, electrochemical, and green properties. While ILs are used alone in various sensor and biosensor applications, their use with nanostructures is becoming very popular in electrochemical sensors. The most significant applications of ILs are the stabilization of nanoparticles during the synthesis and forming of catalytically induced hybrid composite structures due to their wide potential window and great conductivity. Thanks to these unique features, ILs-based materials are used as modification materials in electrochemical sensors in order to acquire enhanced sensor performance and higher sensitivity. Analysis of environmental samples is not only very important due to the increasing environmental pollution and health risk issues but also tedious because of the complex media containing many compounds simultaneously. Therefore, modified electrochemical sensors are a very advantageous option to meet the need for sensors with high sensitivity, low limit of detection (LOD) values, low cost, and easy application for the analysis of environmental samples. This review study overviews the latest applications of ILs-based materials modified electrochemical sensors for determining environmental contaminants such as drug residues, pesticides, heavy metals, etc., in related samples covering the years between 2015 and 2022.

Molecularly imprinted polymers (MIPs), prepared by the interaction forces such as forming covalent or non-covalent bonds by crosslinkers and initiators, are new types of specific recognition polymers with particular cavities. This is an ideal class of materials for wastewater treatment because of the particular holes left by the elution process. This review discusses the development process, classification, synthesis principles, systems, and polymerization methods of MIPs. At the same time, the adsorption mechanism of Copper (Cu), Mercury (Hg), Chromium (Cr), Silver (Ag), and Lead (Pb) in the MIPs technique are studied. Finally, some suggestions and prospects for the future development of MIPs are also put forward.