High-throughput analytical methods employing microextraction techniques: Towards fast analyses lasting a few seconds

Abstract

Green Analytical Chemistry (GAC) principles have influenced the development of analytical methods with minimal sample handling and operations, in contrast to conventional techniques, which are often laborious and time-consuming. Since the introduction of microextraction techniques in the 1990s, various approaches, configurations, and sorptive phases have been proposed to replace Solid Phase Extraction (SPE) and Liquid-Liquid Extraction (LLE), covering a wide range of matrices and analytes, focused on chromatography and mass spectrometry instrumentation. The main features of microextraction techniques are simplicity, low solvent consumption, and minimum residue generation. The demand for fast results and the large number of samples, along with advances in analytical instrumentation, have led to the coupling of microextraction techniques with automation and/or the development of technologies for multiple extractions at the same time, known as parallel extractions. As a result of its popularity in medical and pharmaceutical sciences, the 96-well plate has been successfully adapted for Solid Phase Microextraction (SPME) and Liquid Phase Microextraction (LPME), significantly reducing the time required to process a large number of samples. This review presents some of the basic principles of microextraction techniques, and it contextualizes and compares analytical methods published in the period of 2018 to early 2023 in the microextraction context for high-throughput analyses.