Potential of effective extraction techniques and new analytical systems for profiling the marine environment

The increased interest in health and the status of the global marine environment has led to the development of many different methods of extraction and analysis suitable for a variety of sample matrices. However, there is still great reliance on old-fashioned techniques, which are often tedious and time-consuming and sometimes even unreliable. The focus of this review is recent advances in analytical techniques that can accelerate the analytical cycle and improve selectivity, sensitivity and reliability. Selected examples illustrate the benefits of these techniques in the analysis of different types of toxic compounds in marine-related sample matrices, including water, sediment and biota. (C) 2007 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.