Comparison of various sample preparation methods for benzodiazepines in terms of the principles of white analytical chemistry

Benzodiazepines are highly prevalent class of drugs utilized worldwide. They have been used as antidepressants and tranquilizers while also possessing the capability to induce sedative-hypnosis effects. In addition, the ease of access and the potential for addiction contribute to their high consumption on a global scale. They are frequently used for malicious purposes, including suicide, abduction and drug-facilitated crimes. Therefore, their analysis in food, biological, and environmental matrices is essential for ensuring food safety facilitating clinical research and conducting environmental analyses, respectively. This review discusses various sample preparation approaches employed to analyze benzodiazepines in biological and non-biological applications with the perspective of recently introduced white analytical chemistry approach. White analytical chemistry is a new concept for evaluating analytical procedures based on their validation parameters (Red principle: scope, sensitivity, precision and accuracy), eco-friendliness (green principle: toxicity and amount of reagent; energy consumption and direct impact) and practical aspects (blue principle: cost and time efficiency, method requirements and operational simplicity). The RGB12 is a simple model dedicated to assessments based on white analytical chemistry. It has been used to scrutinize various analytical methods employed in the analysis of benzodiazepines over the past five years, and their respective strengths and weaknesses have been discussed.