The role of ultrasound in analytical derivatizations

Ultrasound is a type of energy that until recently was rarely used for analytical purposes. In recent years, work in chemical and industrial fields alerted analytical chemists to the great potential of ultrasonic energy to accelerate or improve different steps of the analytical process. One of these steps is derivatization: depolymerization, redox, hydrolysis, esterification, alkylation and complex formation are examples of derivatization reactions, all of which are significantly improved with the aid of ultrasound. This review discusses the valuable characteristics of ultrasound and its influence on a number of derivatization reactions is discussed in this review.