Green metrics for analytical methodologies: Uncovering sustainable chromatography approaches for detecting emerging contaminants in food and environmental water

Abstract

The ecological impact of chemical and analytical studies involving toxic reagents and solvents remains a concern. Hence, analytical-based greenness assessments are necessary to estimate emerging contaminants (ECs) with minimal environmental hazards. Greenness evaluation is essential for determining the viability of adopting sustainable practices. This review presented a comprehensive outlook of chromatography approaches for detecting ECs in food and environmental water, particularly on greenness metrics in analytical methodologies. The increasing demand for sustainable analytical methods necessitated greenness metric integration into chromatographic analysis. Therefore, the principles, advancements, and green metric adoptions for environmental impact assessments were investigated. Green chemistry principles were effectively incorporated into chromatographic method-based studies, such as reducing hazardous solvents and waste. When analytical performance and ecological factors were combined, green metrics provided valuable insights for sustainable approach-based developments to detect ECs in food and environmental water.