Abstract
Current trends in Analytical Chemistry are focused on the development of more sustainable and environmentally friendly procedures. However, and despite technological advances at the instrumental level having played a very important role in the greenness of the new methods, there is still work to be done regarding the sample preparation stage. In this sense, the implementation of new materials and solvents has been a great step towards the development of “greener” analytical methodologies. In particular, the application of deep eutectic solvents (DESs) has aroused great interest in recent years in this regard, as a consequence of their excellent physicochemical properties, general low toxicity, and high biodegradability if they are compared with classical organic solvents. Furthermore, the inclusion of DESs based on natural products (natural DESs, NADESs) has led to a notable increase in the popularity of this new generation of solvents in extraction techniques. This review article focuses on providing an overview of the applications and limitations of DESs in solvent-based extraction techniques for food analysis, paying especial attention to their hydrophobic or hydrophilic nature, which is one of the main factors affecting the extraction procedure, becoming even more important when such complex matrices are studied.
Highlights
Nowadays, humans are living in a globalized world, where it is necessary to guarantee the supply of food to a population of around 7900 million people, as well as to ensure its safe consumption, which becomes a difficult and essential task
They should be defined as “quasi-hydrophobic” deep eutectic solvents (DESs). It is worth mentioning the importance of carrying out characterization studies of the DES before and after the extraction procedure, since in many cases, especially when aqueous samples are analysed, the DES nature is lost, since water can act as hydrogen bond acceptor (HBA) or hydrogen bond donor (HBD), resulting in a structure and/or polarity change [6]
Considering the existing debate regarding the hydrophobicity of a DES, special attention has been paid to the hydrophilic or hydrophobic nature of the DESs applied in this field, due to the key role it plays during the extraction procedure, describing and discussing some specific and relevant applications
Summary
Humans are living in a globalized world, where it is necessary to guarantee the supply of food to a population of around 7900 million people, as well as to ensure its safe consumption, which becomes a difficult and essential task. Some authors have suggested that a DES should be defined as hydrophobic when all its components are insoluble in water, in such a way that they present sufficient stability in this type of solvent Otherwise, they should be defined as “quasi-hydrophobic” DESs. Otherwise, they should be defined as “quasi-hydrophobic” DESs In this sense, it is worth mentioning the importance of carrying out characterization studies of the DES before and after the extraction procedure, since in many cases, especially when aqueous samples are analysed, the DES nature is lost, since water can act as HBA or HBD, resulting in a structure and/or polarity change [6]. Considering the existing debate regarding the hydrophobicity of a DES, special attention has been paid to the hydrophilic or hydrophobic nature of the DESs applied in this field, due to the key role it plays during the extraction procedure, describing and discussing some specific and relevant applications
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