Frontiers in Microextraction for Trace Analysis

Dear Colleagues,

In the trace analysis of analytes of interest, e.g., organic pollutants, heavy metal ions and specific elemental species, sample pretreatment before instrumental detection is of great significance. It serves to determine the analytical sensitivity, anti-interference ability/selectivity and sample throughput of the method to a great extent. As a sample pretreatment strategy, microextraction consumes a small volume of solvents or involves small amounts of sorbents. A variety of microextraction techniques have been developed and applied in trace analysis, including liquid-phase microextraction (LPME), cloud point extraction (CPE), solid-phase microextraction (SPME), capillary microextraction (CME) and stir bar sorptive extraction (SBSE). In LPME and CPE, the design and construction of the extraction system is the key point, as it affects the extraction efficiency of interest analytes. In SPME, CME and SBSE, the preparation/synthesis of sorbents/coatings is critical to improve the analytical performance. Moreover, to meet the requirements in real sample analysis involving very limited sample amounts/volumes (e.g., cell analysis), chip-based microextraction is proposed. To further improve the sample throughput, on-line microextraction systems and array microextraction systems have been developed. The rapid development of these microextraction techniques provides reliable technical support for the trace and ultra-trace analysis of environmental and biological samples.

The aim of this Special Issue is to present a collection of articles reflecting the most recent research and developments in the construction of microextraction systems, along with their application in trace analysis. We strongly encourage contributions focusing on microextraction-involved methodologies for the quantification of trace and ultra-trace targets in environmental, biological, food, medical and other real samples.

Dr. Man He
Dr. Nuno Neng
Guest Editors

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