Recent advances in aptamer-functionalized materials in sample preparation

•Aptamer-functionalized materials (AFMs) are promising specific recognition materials.•We review developments and applications of AFMs in sample preparation.•We outline challenges and trends in developing AFM-based sample preparation.

Aptamer-functionalized materials (AFMs) are promising specific recognition materials in sample-preparation techniques due to the inherently high affinity and selectivity associated with aptamers, so AFMs attract considerable interest and a wide variety of applications to recognize specific target analytes ranging from small molecules to proteins, cells and even tissues. We briefly introduce sample-preparation techniques and potential applications of aptamers in analytical chemistry, and then briefly discuss the preparation of AFMs. We mainly focus on developments and applications of AFMs in sample-preparation techniques, including AF solid-phase extraction, solid-phase microextraction, and microfluidic sample preparation, and other sample-preparation techniques. We also discuss the challenges and the prospects of AFMs in sample preparation in future developments.