Title: Designer Materials for Chemical Separations and Analysis

Alejandro Rodríguez-González

Department of Chemistry, Departmental Unit of Analytical Chemistry

Universidad de La Laguna

Host: Dr. Jared Anderson

Abstract: It is well-known that sample preparation is a critical step in analytical procedures. It often involves the preconcentration and separation of target analytes from sample matrixes, mostly avoiding the co-extraction of interferences and other matrix components and making the analytes amendable to downstream chemical analysis. Thus, sample preparation is often times unavoidable to get accurate results from complex samples and in trace analysis. Conventional techniques that are often mandatory in regulatory and pharmaceutical laboratories, such as solid-phase extraction and liquid-liquid extraction, are not in accordance with current sustainability trends dictated by the green analytical principles. To address these limitations, the miniaturization of traditional techniques has become an important area of analytical chemistry, with the development of solid-phase microextraction (SPME) and liquid-phase microextraction, along with related methods such as thin-film solid-phase microextraction (TF-SPME) and dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction.

Simultaneously, the integration of new materials, such as metallic nanoparticles (NPs) or deep eutectic solvents (DES), among others, has resulted in both enhanced extraction efficiency and sensitivity of analytical method. Moreover, the introduction of new materials has led to the emergence of new microextraction modalities that cannot exist without innovations in new material design and synthesis. Among them is magnetic dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction, due to the incorporation of metallic moieties in the microextraction materials.

This talk will discuss the development, characterization, and incorporation of new tailored materials for fabrication of sample preparation devices and methods in analytical procedures. In particular, recent advances in the preparation of novel in-vial TF-SPME devices based on silver-NPs for environmental analysis, as well as a novel approach for the preparation of magnetic DES (mDES) with enhanced stability for potential applications in (bio)analytical applications, will be discussed along with future trends in the field.