Analytical advances and challenges in environmental and biological monitoring of liquid crystal monomers: a comprehensive review

Liquid crystal monomers (LCMs) have received considerable attention due to their widespread use, environmental occurrence, potential for persistence and bioaccumulation, and associated ecological and human health concerns. LCMs encompass diversity in applications, chemical composition and structures and physicochemical properties, which poses significant challenges for measuring them in complex environmental and biological matrices. Therefore, comprehensive methods for the determination of LCMs are crucial for environmental monitoring and risk assessment. This review presents recent advancements in the determination of LCMs across different matrices using various analytical methods, with a focus on sample collection, extraction, purification, instrumental analysis, and quality assurance and control. Furthermore, we examine emerging trends and challenges in LCMs determination and provides insights into future directions for LCMs analysis. • Analytical methods for detecting LCMs in the environment are reviewed • Sampling, pretreatment, and instrumental analysis for LCMs are summarized • A strategy for choosing appropriate analytical methods across matrices is presented • Challenges in trace-level detection and matrix interference are described