Advances in monolithic materials for sample preparation in drug and pharmaceutical analysis

Monoliths were first used as materials for chromatographic separation 20 years ago and as extraction sorbents for solid-phase extraction over 10 years ago.Recently, monolithic silica and polymers were modified to suit devices for extraction and enrichment of analytes in matrices for environmental, food and biological analyses. This approach contributed to miniaturization and automation, which can reduce the time and the cost of sample preparation. Numerous applications were demonstrated for on-line and in-line preconcentration with monoliths, and many kinds of off-line device were designed and developed.This review discusses trends in these device and applications.

► New sample-preparation methods for drug analysis in biological materials.
► The advantages of monolithic materials in bioanalysis.
► Devices for polymer monolith microextraction, pipette-tip and spin-column extraction.
► We describe promising sample-extraction methods for monolithic materials.