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The current role of chromatography in microplastic research: Plastics chemical characterization and sorption of contaminants
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This review examined the role of chromatography in microplastic research and found it to be essential for chemical characterization of plastic polymers and for studying the sorption of contaminants — including persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals — onto microplastic surfaces.
Microplastic research constitutes nowadays a very interesting and challenging research field since more and more studies are showing that plastic particles are present in every environmental compartment (water, air, soil and biota) in which they are causing important effects that still need to be fully understood. The study of their presence, behavior and fate in the environment is extremely necessary to solve such puzzle. In this context, chromatography is currently playing a very important role, since it is being used to determine the composition of microplastics (in particular those with an extremely low size), to study their sorption behavior as well as to analyze the organic contaminants that they retain during their travel through the environment, among other issues. This review article pretends to provide an overview of such relevant applications, in particular, focusing on works published in the last ten years, as well as to highlight the potential of chromatography as part of this relevant research field.
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A Novel Analytical Approach to Assessing Sorption of Trace Organic Compounds into Micro- and Nanoplastic Particles
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This study develops a novel analytical approach to measure how organic trace compounds are absorbed by microplastics, using solid-phase extraction combined with chromatographic detection. The method improves accuracy when assessing sorption of environmental contaminants onto plastic surfaces.
Chromatografische Verfahren zur Charakterisierung von Mikroplastik im Boden
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This study reviewed chromatographic methods for characterizing microplastics in soil, assessing their suitability for identifying and quantifying the diverse polymer types accumulating in terrestrial environments due to decades of widespread plastic use.
Microplastics in the environment: Sampling, pretreatment, analysis and occurrence based on current and newly-exploited chromatographic approaches
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This review comprehensively examined sampling, pretreatment, and chromatographic analysis methods for microplastics in environmental matrices, evaluating conventional and newly developed approaches and identifying liquid chromatography and pyrolysis-GC/MS as the most promising platforms for chemical characterization of complex microplastic mixtures.
Partitioning of chemical contaminants to microplastics: Sorption mechanisms, environmental distribution and effects on toxicity and bioaccumulation
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This review critically examines how chemical contaminants like persistent organic pollutants and heavy metals sorb onto microplastic surfaces in the environment. Researchers found that while microplastics can concentrate pollutants at levels far above surrounding water, the actual contribution of microplastics to contaminant transfer into organisms may be less significant than direct exposure from water and food. The study calls for more realistic experimental designs to clarify the true risk.
The chemical behaviors of microplastics in marine environment: A review
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This review summarized interactions between microplastics and organic pollutants and metals in the marine environment, covering sorption behavior across polymer types, the role of degradation in altering sorption capacity, and global monitoring data on pollutant concentrations on marine plastics. The authors conclude that microplastic type, pollutant properties, and environmental conditions all strongly influence chemical accumulation on plastic surfaces.
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When a large batch of papers lands in the Atlas, we read through it and send a short write-up of what stood out.