An overview of ionic liquid-based adsorbents in food analysis

Abstract Recently, ionic liquid (IL)-based materials have been widely used as efficient adsorbents in sample preparation due to their unique physico-chemical properties and ability to interact with analytes through mutiple interactions. This article reviews the main currently available types of IL-based adsorbents, such as IL-modified silica-based adsorbents, IL-based magnetic composites adsorbents, IL-modified solid-phase micro-extraction fibers, IL-based polymers, IL-modified aerogel adsorbents and other types of IL-based adsorbents, and the application of IL-based adsorbents in food analysis (including pesticides, drugs, additives, heavy metal ions, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons and other pollutants). Furthermore, the challenges and future outlook in the development of IL-based materials for food analysis are also discussed.