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Sustainable NADES and Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction of PFAS and Microplastics in Environmental Matrices
Summary
A review of green analytical chemistry approaches found that natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) combined with ultrasound-assisted extraction offer more sustainable, low-toxicity alternatives to conventional methods for simultaneously detecting PFAS and microplastics in environmental and biological matrices. The study is particularly significant because microplastics act as carriers that enhance PFAS bioaccumulation, making co-detection methods essential for assessing combined toxic exposure.
Emerging pollutants such as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) and microplastics threaten the environment and human health due to their persistence, bioaccumulation, and ubiquity in aquatic systems, soils, and food chains. Recent research reveals synergistic effects, with microplastics serving as carriers that enhance PFAS adsorption, trophic transfer, and combined toxicity manifesting as oxidative stress, reproductive disruption, developmental abnormalities, and genotoxicity in organisms and human cells. These co-occurring "forever chemicals" and plastic particles amplify global risks, worsened by climate change and rising emissions. Traditional sample preparation techniques are solvent-heavy, energy-intensive, waste-generating, and prone to analyte loss, matrix effects, and low recoveries in complex matrices. This review assesses progress in green analytical chemistry (GAC), aligned with its 12 principles. Promising approaches include natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) biodegradable, low-toxicity mixtures from natural compounds like sugars, amino acids, and organic acids with tunable polarity and ultrasound-assisted methods for fast, low-energy preconcentration. These deliver higher recoveries, lower detection limits, and better alignment with green metrics (e.g., AGREEprep) for PFAS and microplastics analysis. Challenges remain in standardization, scalability across polymers/sizes, and balancing sustainability with sensitivity. Future efforts should focus on hybrid techniques, automation, bio-based materials, and integration with high-resolution detection for sustainable, routine monitoring.