Non-destructive Spectroscopy combined with chemometrics as a tool for Green Chemical Analysis of environmental samples: A review

Abstract

The design of environmentally friendly analytical techniques and the modification of methods that are in use are important issues to be addressed in Green Analytical Chemistry. Potential applications of non-destructive spectroscopic techniques to achieve these principles are discussed in this review. Special emphasis is placed in environmental samples. Taking into account the current tendency to combine the analysis of environmental samples by non-destructive spectroscopic techniques and chemometrics, the most important applications concerning this task are also compiled. Although multiple objectives are pursued, regression techniques, frequently in combination with infrared spectroscopy, stand out, with around 300 references since 2009. More than half of these publications deal with the design of models to predict properties of soils. Nonetheless, the combination of regression techniques and non-destructive spectroscopy is continuously progressing, and they have been applied, for example, in the analysis of different environmental samples by remote or in-situ multispectral sensors with satisfactory results.