Organic solvents in electromembrane extraction: recent insights

Electromembrane extraction (EME) was invented in 2006 as a miniaturized sample preparation technique for the separation of ionized species from aqueous samples. This concept has been investigated in different areas of analytical chemistry by different research groups worldwide since the introduction. Under the influence of an electrical field, EME is based on electrokinetic migration of the analytes through a supported liquid membrane (SLM), which is an organic solvent immobilized in the pores of the polymeric membrane, and into the acceptor solution. Up to date, close to 150 research articles with focus on EME have been published. The current review summarizes the performance of EME with different organic solvents and discusses several criteria for efficient solvents in EME. In addition, the authors highlight their personal perspective about the most promising organic solvents for EME and have indicated that more fundamental work is required to investigate and discover new organic solvents for EME.