Recent advancements in porous sorbent materials and micro solid-phase extraction (μ-SPE) modifications for improved pesticide identification in waste water

Abstract

The extensive application of pesticides, although advantageous for agricultural productivity, however, it presents considerable hazards to aquatic systems, human health, fauna, and ecosystems. To mitigate these issues, there is an immediate requirement for precise and sensitive analytical techniques to assess residues from pesticides in diverse matrices of environments, such as air, soil, water, and biological entities. It is believed that preconcentration procedures are essential for improving the efficacy and sensitivity of these analyses. One technology that has shown great promise in identifying pesticide residues in contaminated wastewater is the solid phase micro-extraction, often known as micro-SPE (μ-SPE). Although enormous experimental research on μ-SPE has been conducted in previous years using several adsorbent materials. For better pesticide detection in analytical samples, it is imperative to produce a state-of-the-art review of recent developments in porous sorbent materials and μ-SPE modifications. This review gives a thorough primer to μ-SPE, explaining its basic principles and highlighting its numerous developments, such as the fabrication of porous sorbent materials like traditional sorbents, carbon-based materials, metal-organic frameworks (MOFs), polymeric materials, and sorbents based on ionic liquids. Integration of modified μ-SPE procedures with other microextraction methods is also discussed in the paper. These processes include dispersive, magnetic, vortex-assisted, and microwave-assisted approaches. The key determinants that govern the operation of μ-SPE, such as sorbent material, sample volume, the time allowed for extraction, and the conditions for desorption, will be described in detail. In addition to this, the effectiveness of μ-SPE in detecting pesticide residues using GC-MS, as well as identifying potential challenges and opportunities, has been discussed in this review to improve environmental monitoring and large-scale applications.

Keywords: Pesticide residues; Porous sorbent materials; Wastewater; and GC-MS; μ-SPE.