Ionic liquid and polymeric ionic liquid coatings in solid-phase microextraction

Sample preparation is often considered to be a bottleneck in most analytical methods. Solid-phase microextraction (SPME) consolidates sampling and sample preparation into one step. The unique properties of ionic liquids (ILs) and polymeric ILs (PILs) have been exploited as sorbent coatings in SPME. Due to their tunable structures, these materials exhibit unique selectivity for various analytes. This article discusses the overall progression of IL and PIL-based sorbent coatings in SPME. The structural engineering and design of selective sorbent coatings is discussed to demonstrate the versatility of these materials in numerous applications. (C) 2013 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.