The Potential of Microextraction Techniques for the Analysis of Bioactive Compounds in Food

For a long time, the importance of sample preparation and extraction in the analytical performance of the most diverse methodologies have been neglected. Cumbersome techniques, involving high sample and solvent volumes have been gradually miniaturized from solid-phase and liquid-liquid extractions formats and microextractions approaches are becoming the standard in different fields of research. In this context, this review is devoted to the analysis of bioactive compounds in foods using different microextraction approaches reported in the literature since 2015. But microextraction also represents an opportunity to mitigate the environmental impact of organic solvents usage, as well as lab equipment. For this reason, in the recent literature, phenolics and alkaloids extraction from fruits, medicinal herbs, juices, and coffee using different miniaturized formats of solid-phase extraction and liquid-liquid microextraction are the most popular applications. However, more ambitious analytical limits are continuously being reported and emergent sorbents based on carbon nanotubes and magnetic nanoparticles will certainly contribute to this trend. Additionally, ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents constitute already the most recent forefront of innovation, substituting organic solvents and further improving the current microextraction approaches.

Automated summary

This review focuses on the application of different microextraction approaches for the analysis of bioactive compounds in foods since 2015. Microextraction methods not only offer the opportunity to mitigate the environmental impact of organic solvents usage, but also improve lab equipment. Phenolics and alkaloids extraction from fruits, medicinal herbs, juices, and coffee using miniaturized formats of solid-phase extraction and liquid-liquid microextraction are the most popular applications. Furthermore, emergent sorbents based on carbon nanotubes and magnetic nanoparticles contribute to improving analytical limits.