Developments in single-drop microextraction

The continuous quest for novel sample preparation procedures has led to the development of new methods, whose main advantages are their speed and negligible volume of solvents used. The most recent trends include solvent microextraction, a miniaturisation of the traditional liquid-liquid extraction method, where the solvent to aqueous ratio is greatly reduced. Single-drop microextraction is a methodology that evolved from this approach. It is a simple, inexpensive, fast, effective and virtually solvent-free sample pretreatment technique. This article provides a detailed and updated discussion of the developments, modes and applications of single-drop microextraction, followed by a brief description of the theoretical background of the method. Finally, the most important parameters as well as some practical considerations for method optimisation and development are summarised. (C) 2002 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.