https://doi.org/10.1016/j.arabjc.2020.102972
“Ion chromatography (IC) is a well-known technique for trace determination of inorganic ions and small organic acids. Recently, it has also appeared as a promising alternative to reverse phase chromatography for the determination of polar pesticides and pharmaceutical drugs in various sample matrices. Therefore, this study aims to provide a comprehensive overview of the application of IC coupled to fluorescence (FLD) or UV detector for the determination of pesticides and pharmaceutical drugs in samples from all walks of life. Apart from advantages and limitations, a short comparison of IC-FLD/UV with other techniques especially reverse-phase chromatography was drawn to envision future research efforts in this direction. Finally, several related areas such as IC hyphenation with different detectors (spectroscopic and spectrometer), miniaturization, automation, green chemistry, mobile phase, column, sample preparation, etc., were discussed to highlight its application for the determination of a wide range of analytes in the complex sample matrix.”
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2. Ion chromatography
In 1975 Small et al., introduced ion chromatography (IC) for the direct, rapid, and sensitive determination of inorganic ions (anions, cations) by coupling conductivity detector to a suppressor ion-exchange column (Small, et al., 1975). Soon in 1979 Gjerde et al., upgraded its use by developing a simple and cost-effective non-suppressed IC technique by running low conductivity eluent. This concept was successively spread further for the separation of ionic, polar and ionizable organic analytes along with inorganic ions (Gjerde, et al., 1979) and led to the introduction of hyphenated ion chromatographic technique, in which it is coupled with conductivity, UV–Vis absorbance, amperometric, potentiometric, light-emitting (atomic emission spectroscopic, atomic fluorescence, molecular fluorescence, and luminescence spectroscopic detection) and MS detector (Buchberger, 2001). The IC braced to non-specific detectors such as conductivity, ultraviolet, electrochemical, fluorescence, and mass spectrometry, has been widely used for over 35 years for the determination of inorganic and organic analytes in simple and complex matrices. Several reviews about IC coupled with conductivity detectors are available in the literature (Fritz, 2000, López-Ruiz, 2000, Paull and Barron, 2004, Shaw and Haddad, 2004). For, instance, Dicinoski et al., reviewed the applications of hyphenated IC for the detection of explosive residues in 2006 (Buchberger, 2001, Dicinoski et al., 2006). Similarly, L. Barronet et al., reviewed the application of IC coupled with MS for the quantitative determination of polar and ionic species in environmental and forensic explosives (Barron and Gilchrist, 2014). Now it is appeared a better alternative to reverse phase chromatography in the pharmaceutical and drug analysis (Bhattacharyya, 2012, Ravichandran, 2012, Pohl et al., 2012, Jenke, 2011).
However, no review paper has been reported so far pertaining to the application of advantageous hyphenated ion chromatography-ultraviolet/fluorescence (IC-UV/FLD) technique for the determination of pesticides and pharmaceutical drugs in various matrices, despite growing reports in past decades, as shown in Fig. 3 (a). Therefore, the entire literature from 1980 to 2020 was retrieved via Scopus, Web of Sciences, Google Scholar, Scifinder, Wiley, and ScienceDirect by inserting the terms, “ion chromatography”, “pharmaceutical analysis” and “pesticide analysis” as keywords, separately.
Fig. 3. (a) Hyphenated IC-FLD/UV based publication per year IC; (b) hyphenation of a non-suppressed ion chromatograph to fluorescence detector (FLD) and (c) hyphenation of a non-suppressed ion chromatograph to post-column reactor and fluorescence detector (IC-hv-FLD) (Subhani, et al., 2013).
The aim of this review is as follows:
Firstly, this review provides a comprehensive overview of the modified and innovative hyphenated IC-FLD/UV methodology that has been used until now for the analysis of pesticides and pharmaceutical drugs in various matrices. Both classes of analytes are separately elaborated and their respective comprehensive discussions and up-to-date tables are summarized in aiming to provide a detailed discussion related to the new trends in their (pesticides and pharmaceutical drugs) determination by utilizing IC-FLD/UV technique. Secondly, comparison, significance, and advantages of this cost-effective technique over the previously used technique are highlighted. Thirdly, the evolution of this technique and challenges associated with its direct application to complex samples (biological, food environmental) are elaborated. Fourthly, future perspectives and outlooks were outlined to further improve the hyphenated IC techniques in various ways to expand its applications for the determination of organic analytes from widespread samples.
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