Overview of High-Performance Thin Layer Chromatography and its Applications in Pesticide Analysis

In recent decades, increased demand for food has been caused by a rapid rise in the human population, which triggers agricultural intensification. To resist undesired pests from infecting crops, farmers widely utilize pesticides to improve agricultural production during the pre-harvest period. Despite the fact that pesticides cause a number of health risks, there is insufficient monitoring of these toxins. Therefore, it is important to develop a specific, accurate, and efficient method for determining the pesticides in varied samples in order to safeguard health against potential risks. Due to the lower concentrations of active compounds and their diversity of availability, it is challenging to detect pesticide residues in different samples. In this case, to effectively separate, identify, and accurately quantify pesticides at low concentrations in a variety of samples, a reliable analytical methodology is needed. Recently, the application of high-performance thin layer chromatography (HPTLC) offers a wider scope with excellent separation, identification, and quantitative/qualitative determination in pesticide analysis. In spite of their extremely low quantities, pesticide residues can be accurately and precisely identified using HPTLC. HPTLC has a number of benefits, such as easy sample preparation, automation, densitometry, and hyphenation, and is particularly well suited for identification and detection. Concerning this, the proposed review paper provides an overview of stationary phases, mobile phases, sample applicators, visualization, derivatization, and detection of HPTLC utilized for the identification and detection of pesticide residues in agriculture and environmental samples.