Analytical Methods for the Determination of Emerging Contaminants

Dear Colleagues,

Emerging contaminants (EP) are synthetic or naturally occurring chemicals or any microorganisms that are not commonly monitored but have the potential to enter the environment and cause known or suspected adverse ecological and/or human health effects. They consist of pharmaceuticals, pesticides, industrial chemicals, surfactants, and personal care products that are consistently being found in several environmental (air, soil, water), food, and among other sources. They also include microplastics, endocrine-disrupting compounds, analgesics, antibiotics, hormones, and a whole range of other pharmaceutical compounds including anti-inflammatory, antidiabetic, and antiepileptic drugs. However, these compounds are often referred to as EP because of (i) the diversity of chemical properties of these compounds; (ii) generally low concentrations (usually at part per billion (ppb) or part per trillion (ppt) levels); (iii) the complexity of matrices; and (iv) the limited understanding of environmental occurrence, disposition, and fate. Actually, methods for sampling and analysis are not harmonized and are typically dedicated to certain limited EP classes and for a number of known highly hazardous Eps, detection limits are inadequate to allow proper risk assessment or are still in an initial state. A harmonized monitoring program has not yet been achieved and is urgently required. New methods for assessing the risks from combined exposures to several stressors, including mixtures of chemical and physical/biological agents in a multiscale approach are required.

This Special Issue will comprise research articles, short communications, and reviews related to the main analytical tools for the analysis of EP. Manuscripts dedicated to new analytical approaches in representative environmental, food, and human matrices are welcome. Furthermore, other aspects such as toxicology, chemometrics, sample preparation, treatment technologies, and green analytical chemistry will also be embraced.

As such, with this Special Issue, we intend to collect a broad overview of the potential analytical approaches for monitoring and controlling emerging pollutants.

Dr. Virgínia Cruz Fernandes
Prof. Dr. Cristina Delerue-Matos
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Separations is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Emerging contaminants
• Safety
• Sample preparation
• Analytical methods
• Chromatography
• Sensors/biosensors
• Monitoring and biomonitoring
• Control
• Food
• Environmental
• Human samples