Malays. J. Anal. Sci. Volume 29 Number 4 (2025): 1558

 

Review Article

 

Deep eutectic solvents as green alternative for removal of pesticides in environment and food matrices: A mini review

 

Nur Liyana Athirah Ahmad Hisham1, Noorfatimah Yahaya2, Siti Machmudah3, Ili Syazana Johari1 and Sazlinda Kamaruzaman1*

 

1Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Science, Universiti Putra Malaysia, Serdang, 43400, Selangor, Malaysia

2Department of Toxicology, Advanced Medical and Dental Institute (AMDI), Universiti Sains Malaysia, 13200 Bertam Kepala Batas, Pulau Pinang, Malaysia

3Department of Chemical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember, Kampus ITS Sukolilo, Surabaya 60111, Indonesia

 

Received: 12 February 2025; Revised: 11 June 2025; Accepted: 18 June 2025; Published: 22 August 2025

Abstract

Pesticides have detrimental effects on organisms and environment. Due to extensive usage of pesticides from various group, such as triazines, organophosphates and pyrethroids in various industries, the occurrence of these pollutants had become prominent in the food matrices and environment, especially in soil and water samples. Many pesticides are detected above maximum residue limits (MRL) and threaten the well-being of humans and other living organisms. Cancer, endocrine disturbance and reproductive issues are some of the health conditions associated with the prolonged exposure to pesticides and other organic pollutants. Therefore, a lot of removal techniques had been developed and applied to ensure effective removal of these compounds. Extraction method shows promising results as it is simple, easy to design and has high relative recovery for target analytes. The utilization of deep eutectic solvents (DES) in extraction of pesticides had gained significant interest among scientists as it produced satisfactory results in addition to abiding by the principles of Green Chemistry. A wide range of pollutants are reported to be successfully removed from food, water and soil samples with the application of DES. In the present review, the focus is to discuss the extraction mainly by microextraction technique with the parameters affecting the extraction process, such as volume of DES used, temperature of solvent, pH value and extraction time were investigated.

 

Keywords: deep eutectic solvent, pesticides, microextraction, extractant solvent, dispersive solvent

 

References

1.        Kaur, R., Mavi, G. K., Raghav, S., and Khan, I. (2019). Pesticides classification and its impact on environment. International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences, 8(03): 1889-1897.

2.        Blair, A., Ritz, B., Wesseling, C., and Freeman, L. B. (2014). Pesticides and human health. Occupational and Environmental Medicine, 72(2): 81-82.

3.        Bahadar, H., Abdollahi, M., Maqbool, F., Baeeri, M., and Niaz, K. (2015). Mechanistic overview of immune modulatory effects of environmental toxicants. Inflammation & Allergy Drug Targets, 13(6): 382-386.

4.        Rezg, R., Mornagui, B., El-Fazaâ, S., and Gharbi, N. (2010). Organophosphorus pesticides as food chain contaminants and type 2 diabetes: a review. Trends in Food Science & Technology, 21(7): 345-357.

5.        Wang, X., Wang, D., Qin, X., and Xu, X. (2008). Residues of organochlorine pesticides in surface soils from college school yards in Beijing, China. Journal of Environmental Sciences, 20(9): 1090-1096.

6.        Kumar, B., Kumar, S., Gaur, R., Goel, G., Mishra, M., Singh, S. K., Prakash, D., and Sharma, C. S. (2011). Persistent organochlorine pesticides and polychlorinated biphenyls in intensive agricultural soils from North India. Soil and Water Research, 6(4): 190-197.

7.        Lei, Z., Chen, B., Koo, Y., and MacFarlane, D. R. (2017). Introduction: Ionic liquids. Chemical Reviews, 117(10): 6633-6635.

8.        Abbott, AP, Capper, G, Davies, DL, Rasheed, RK, and Tambyrajah V (2003). Novel solvent properties of choline chloride/urea mixtures. Chemistry Communication, 1: 70-71.

9.        Zhang, S., Zhang, Q., Zhang, Y., Chen, Z., Watanabe, M., and Deng, Y. (2016). Beyond solvents and electrolytes: Ionic liquids-based advanced functional materials. Progress in Materials Science/Progress in Materials Science, 77: 80-124.

10.     Chakrabarti, M. H., Mjalli, F. S., AlNashef, I. M., Hashim, M. A., Hussain, M. A., Bahadori, L., and Low, C. T. J. (2014). Prospects of applying ionic liquids and deep eutectic solvents for renewable energy storage by means of redox flow batteries. Renewable & Sustainable Energy Reviews, 30: 254-270.

11.     Emami, S., and Shayanfar, A. (2020). Deep eutectic solvents for pharmaceutical formulation and drug delivery applications. Pharmaceutical Development and Technology, 25(7): 779-796.

12.     Tang, W., An, Y., and Row, K. H. (2021). Emerging applications of (micro) extraction phase from hydrophilic to hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents: opportunities and trends. TrAC Trends in Analytical Chemistry, 136: 116187.

13.     Chen, S., An, Q., Sun, H., and Mao, M. (2020). Application of ultrasound-assisted deep eutectic solvent extraction combined with liquid-liquid extraction method to the extraction of three pesticide residues from fruit and vegetable samples. Acta Chromatographica, 33(1): 30-36

14.     Heidari, H., Ghanbari-Rad, S., and Habibi, E. (2020b). Optimization deep eutectic solvent-based ultrasound-assisted liquid-liquid microextraction by using the desirability function approach for extraction and preconcentration of organophosphorus pesticides from fruit juice samples. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 87: 103389.

15.     Liu, X., Chen, M., Meng, Z., Qian, H., Zhang, S., Lu, R., Gao, H., and Zhou, W. (2020). Extraction of benzoylurea pesticides from tea and fruit juices using deep eutectic solvents. Journal of Chromatography. B, 1140: 121995.

16.     Socas-Rodríguez, B., Mendiola, J. A., Rodríguez-Delgado, M. Á., Ibáñez, E., and Cifuentes, A. (2022b). Safety assessment of citrus and olive by-products using a sustainable methodology based on natural deep eutectic solvents. Journal of Chromatography A, 1669: 462922.

17.     Mokhtari, N., Torbati, M., Farajzadeh, M. A., and Mogaddam, M. R. A. (2020). Synthesis and characterization of phosphocholine chloride‐based three‐component deep eutectic solvent: application in dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for determination of organothiophosphate pesticides. Journal of the Science of Food and Agriculture, 100(6): 2364-2371.

18.     Wu, B., Guo, Z., Li, X., Huang, X., Teng, C., Chen, Z., Jing, X., and Zhao, W. (2021). Analysis of pyrethroids in cereals by HPLC with a deep eutectic solvent-based dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction with solidification of floating organic droplets. Analytical Methods, 13(5): 636-641.

19.     Salim, S. A., Sukor, R., Ismail, M. N., and Selamat, J. (2021). Dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction (DLLME) and LC-MS/MS analysis for multi-mycotoxin in rice bran: Method development, optimization and validation. Toxins, 13(4): 280.

20.     Deng, W., Yu, L., Li, X., Chen, J., Wang, X., Deng, Z., and Xiao, Y. (2019). Hexafluoroisopropanol-based hydrophobic deep eutectic solvents for dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction of pyrethroids in tea beverages and fruit juices. Food Chemistry, 274: 891-899.

21.     Jouyban, A., Farajzadeh, M. A., and Mogaddam, M. R. A. (2020). In matrix formation of deep eutectic solvent used in liquid phase extraction coupled with solidification of organic droplets dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction; application in determination of some pesticides in milk samples. Talanta, 206: 120169.

22.     Nemati, M., Farajzadeh, M. A., Mogaddam, M. R. A., Mohebbi, A., Azimi, A. R., Fattahi, N., and Tuzen, M. (2022). Development of a gas-controlled deep eutectic solvent-based evaporation-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction approach for the extraction of pyrethroid pesticides from fruit juices. Microchemical Journal, 175: 107196.

23.     Ju, Z., Fan, J., Meng, Z., Lu, R., Gao, H., and Zhou, W. (2023). A high-throughput semi-automated dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction based on deep eutectic solvent for the determination of neonicotinoid pesticides in edible oils. Microchemical Journal, 185: 108193.

24.     Zhao, M., Zhao, E., Wu, J., Li, Y., and Li, B. (2021). Application of deep eutectic solvents combined with vortex assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for five organophosphorus pesticides in juice and green tea beverage. Acta Chromatographica, 34(1): 53-60.

25.     Soltani, S., Sereshti, H., and Nouri, N. (2021). Deep eutectic solvent-based clean-up/vortex-assisted emulsification liquid-liquid microextraction: Application for multi-residue analysis of 16 pesticides in olive oils. Talanta, 225: 121983.

26.     Elencovan, V., Joseph, J., Yahaya, N., Samad, N. A., Raoov, M., Lim, V., and Zain, N. N. M. (2022). Exploring a novel deep eutectic solvents combined with vortex-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction and its toxicity for organophosphorus pesticides analysis from honey and fruit samples. Food Chemistry, 368: 130835.

27.     Rostami-Javanroudi, S., Moradi, M., Sharafi, K., and Fattahi, N. (2021). Novel hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent for vortex-assisted liquid phase microextraction of common acaricides in fruit juice followed by HPLC-UV determination. RSC Advances, 11(48): 30102-30108.

28.     Abolghasemi, M. M., Piryaei, M., and Imani, R. M. (2020). Deep eutectic solvents as extraction phase in head-space single-drop microextraction for determination of pesticides in fruit juice and vegetable samples. Microchemical Journal, 158: 105041.

29.     Monajemzadeh, F., Mohebbi, A., Farajzadeh, M. A., Nemati, M., and Mogaddam, M. R. A. (2021). Dispersive solid phase extraction combined with in syringe deep eutectic solvent based dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for determination of some pesticides and their metabolite in egg samples. Journal of Food Composition and Analysis, 96: 103696.

30.     Daghi, M. M., Nemati, M., Abbasalizadeh, A., Farajzadeh, M. A., Mogaddam, M. R. A., and Mohebbi, A. (2022). Combination of dispersive solid phase extraction using MIL–88A as a sorbent and deep eutectic solvent-based dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for the extraction of some pesticides from fruit juices before their determination by GC–MS. Microchemical Journal, 183: 107984.

31.     Kachangoon, R., Vichapong, J., Santaladchaiyakit, Y., Burakham, R., and  Srijaranai, S. (2020). An eco-friendly hydrophobic deep eutectic solvent-based dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction for the determination of neonicotinoid insecticide residues in water, soil and egg yolk samples. Molecules, 25(12): 2785.

32.     Sereshti, H., Zarei-Hosseinabadi, M., Soltani, S., Jamshidi, F., and AliAbadi, M. H. S. (2021). Hydrophobic liquid-polymer-based deep eutectic solvent for extraction and multi-residue analysis of pesticides in water samples. Microchemical Journal, 167, 106314.

33.     Sereshti, H., Seraj, M., Soltani, S., Nodeh, H. R., AliAbadi, M. H. S., and Taghizadeh, M. (2022). Development of a sustainable dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction based on novel hydrophobic and hydrophilic natural deep eutectic solvents for the analysis of multiclass pesticides in water. Microchemical Journal, 175: 107226.

34.     Liu, Q., Li, Z., Wei, L., Chen, X., Xu, Y., and Zhao, J. (2022). Fast dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction based on temperature switching deep eutectic solvent as a green extractant. Research Square, 1185563.

35.     Pour, P. H., Daryanavard, S. M., Memar, M., and Naccarato, A. (2025). Development of ultrasound-assisted dispersive liquid-liquid microextraction based on solidification of floating organic droplets and deep eutectic solvents for multi-class pesticide analysis in agricultural waters. Microchemical Journal, 212: 113404.

36.     Turiel, E., Díaz-Álvarez, M., and Martín-Esteban, A. (2023). Natural deep eutectic solvents as sustainable alternative for the ultrasound-assisted extraction of triazines from agricultural soils. Microchemical Journal, 196: 109675.