Advances in the extraction methods for the environmental analysis of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs)

Monitoring of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) in environmental samples is an important step in understanding the widespread of these emerging pollutants in different environmental compartments, mainly water, and encouraging their regulation. The extraction process is critical in order to isolate these analytes from complex water matrices, improving their preconcentration, and accurate quantification. Several extraction methods have been developed and validated in the past decade and many of them have been successfully applied in the analysis of NSAIDs in water samples. This review performs a discussion of the advances of these extraction methods with emphasis on their validation parameters and analytical performance. We retrieved studies in which different extraction methods were developed for the determination of NSAIDs in water samples from two different databases using several keywords after an inclusion-exclusion process. The characteristics of the extraction methods, including the development process, NSAIDs determined, coupled analytical technique, and limits of detection, as well as other performance parameters, were assessed. Additionally, the advantages and limitations of each method such as extraction time, analytical performance, reusability, and range of application, were also discussed.