Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) is a novel sample-preparation technique offering high enrichment factors from low volumes of water samples. It has found wide acceptance because of several advantages, including simplicity, low cost and ease of method development, which made it available to virtually all analytical laboratories. This review focuses on improvements made in DLLME since its introduction in 2006. We present use of DLLME with simultaneous derivatization of analytes and connection of DLLME to other sample-preparation techniques. We also describe exchange of toxic chlorinated solvents with low toxic hydrocarbons, alcohols and ionic liquids. We include application of DLLME to pre-concentration of metal ions and many more modifications of this newly developed technique. We briefly describe different applications of DLLME to several groups of analytes, including pesticides, pharmaceuticals, phenols and other compounds, and, finally, we predict some future trends.

Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction

Recent development and applications of dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction

Beyond dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction

During the past 7 years and since the introduction of dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction (DLLME), the method has gained widespread acceptance as a simple, fast, and miniaturized sample preparation technique. Owing to its simplicity of operation, rapidity, low cost, high recovery, and low consumption of organic solvents and reagents, it has been applied for determination of a vast variety of organic and inorganic compounds in different matrices. This review summarizes the DLLME principles, historical developments, and various modes of the technique, recent trends, and selected applications. The main focus is on recent technological advances and important applications of DLLME. In this review, six important aspects in the development of DLLME are discussed: (1) the type of extraction solvent, (2) the type of disperser solvent, (3) combination of DLLME with other extraction methods, (4) automation of DLLME, (5) derivatization reactions in DLLME, and (6) the application of DLLME for metal analysis. Literature published from 2010 to April 2013 is covered.

Recent developments in dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction

Liquid phase microextraction (LPME) is a popular technique for sample pretreatment before the trace determination of target compounds from complex matrices, examples being pesticides in environmental and food samples, or drug residuals in biological samples such as blood or urine. LPME is simple, affordable, easy to operate, and highly sensitive. It is a miniaturized implementation of conventional liquid-liquid extraction in which only a few microliters of solvents are used instead of several hundreds of milliliters. This review focuses on newly developed LPME-based techniques, their application to environmental and biological samples, on their limitations, and on future applications.

Xinying Qin

Papers

Ultrasound-assisted dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction for determination of fluoroquinolones in pharmaceutical wastewater