Recent advances in applications of metal–organic frameworks for sample preparation in pharmaceutical analysis

Sample preparation is a crucial bottleneck in the whole analytical scheme, especially for the determination of trace analytes in complex matrices. To achieve high extraction and clean-up performance with a short analysis time, various functionalized materials are developed as solid-phase sorbents. In recent years, metal–organic frameworks (MOFs) have emerged as promising stationary phases for pharmaceutical separation and analysis. In this review, we summarize recent advances in applications of MOFs and their composites for analyzing different pharmaceuticals including antibiotics, anti-inflammatory agents, steroid hormones, abused substances, and other kinds of drugs in sample preparation. Both representative MOFs and the preparation methods are introduced. Corresponding analytical approaches have been established through different extraction modes or devices, mainly focusing on solid-phase extraction, solid-phase microextraction, and other MOFs-based microextraction techniques. These pretreatment techniques are successfully applied in handling diverse complex samples such as biological fluids, plant extracts, edible matrix and environmental samples. Moreover, the remaining challenges of MOFs as advanced sorbents, the future perspectives and trends for pharmaceutical analysis are discussed.