The role of the separation sciences in the 21th century

Abstract

This review examines, from a critical point-of-view, the role of the separation sciences in the new century considering the complexity of the problems to be faced. To make the exposition more dynamic the determination of a typical (hypothetical) organic analyte in a complex matrix is used to critically introduce the major separation techniques used nowadays. Techniques that promote the reduction or that fully eliminate the use of toxic solvents are stressed. After this evaluation the author discusses the future trends in this area with emphasis on the miniaturization of the instrumental techniques, the full automation of the analyses, the use of hyphenated techniques, the under-explored role of the solvents in separation techniques, the development of transition phase chromatography and unified chromatography.