Cyclodextrins-based sorbents for sustainable sample preparation focusing on food analysis

Food analysis is critical for ensuring human health and safety, as it involves the detection of contaminants such as pesticides, heavy metals, mycotoxins, allergens, and microbial contaminants. Effective extraction and pre-concentration of these analytes are crucial to achieve accurate analysis and comply with regulatory standards. However, food matrices are complex, including solid, semi-solid, and liquid components, fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals, and other organic and inorganic compounds. Therefore, isolation of target analytes is a challenging task. Developing efficient sample preparation techniques is essential to overcome such a downside. Exploring new and improved sorbent materials is one of the advanced strategies for developing selective and greener sample preparation approaches. Cyclodextrins (CDs) play a significant role in this topic. CDs can interact with various compounds with their external hydrophilic structure and central hydrophobic cavity. The functionalization of CDs' external hydroxyl groups allows for modifications in solubility, cavity opening, and bonding with other sorbent materials. This review discusses the current status of CDs as a robust sorbent material in food- and nutraceutical analysis. It covers the principles of CD-based sorbent preparation. It explores combining them with other materials, creating customized sorbents for solid-phase extraction techniques, including dispersive, packed devices-based, and coated devices-based methods. Moreover, we offer insights into relevant applications focusing on food surveillance and nutraceutical analysis.