Green analytical chemistry

Chemistry is undergoing considerable development to reduce, at source, the impact of processes and chemical products on health and the environment. Taking into account the effects of chemistry on the environment in a preventive way has led to the development of the concept of green chemistry. In this context, analytical chemistry provides the tools and methods for rapidly and economically assessing and quantifying the environmental compatibility of a technology or product.

Furthermore, the ubiquity of analytical chemistry in research and industry has led to a considerable increase in the consumption of toxic chemicals and the production of hazardous waste, in all stages of the analytical chain. Larger volumes of effluent, often more harmful than the original sample, are produced during each analysis. For these reasons, the analytical community is working hard, like chemists, to adopt more eco-responsible practices in response to strong societal demand. Various complementary strategies have been developed in recent years to make analytical chemistry more respectful of the environment, giving rise to green analytical chemistry. In this context, major efforts are being made to develop new analytical techniques and methods to reduce, replace or eliminate the use of toxic solvents and reagents, minimize energy consumption and the quantities of waste and rejects, while maintaining the same level of analytical performance. Taking such criteria into account for greener analytical chemistry also often has the advantage of improving analytical performance by reducing the number of steps involved. Another fundamental advantage is the reduction in costs generated by higher analysis rates, lower consumption of water, reagents and energy, and lower volumes of waste to be processed. This economic advantage is an important factor in the development of green analytical chemistry.

This article presents the main techniques and recent developments in sustainable analytical chemistry, from sample pre-treatment and separation of the species of interest to laboratory effluent treatment, including techniques for direct sample analysis, both on site and in the laboratory, on-line analysis techniques, sensors, miniaturization of techniques, and more.