Greening the Derivatization Step in Analytical Extractions: Recent Strategies and Future Directions

Abstract

Green analytical chemistry is an emerging subject within the domain of analytical chemistry, and it impacts and dictates about all the procedures and methods involved in the determination of the analytes. The concept of GAC has encouraged shifting the area of the sample preparation toward simplified, miniaturized, and automated methods by declining the multistep, large-scale, and manual methods, respectively. The GAC suggests avoiding the derivatization (chemical conversion) of the analytes. However, due to certain limitations associated with the analytical instrumentation and chemical structures of the analytes, the step of derivatization is unavoidable. To reduce the impact of derivatization on the environment and workers, it may be coupled with micro-extraction procedures that require minimized volumes of solvents and reagents. Indeed, this coupling provides great opportunities to deal with different kinds of analytes and sample matrices. Apart from the amalgamation of micro-extraction and derivatization, the selection of eco-friendly solvents/reagents, the use of greener energy sources such as microwaves or ultrasound and performing online derivatization (in-port, on-column/in-capillary) can significantly contribute toward the ``greenness'' of the procedure. This book chapter highlights the latest advancements in this direction.