Ultrasonication for Analytical Chemistry

The purpose of this work is to present a peer revision to the last trends dealing with ultrasonication for sample treatment in Analytical Chemistry. The selective oxidation properties of sonication makes this tool a powerful help to distinguish, when present in solution, some metal organic species from the inorganic ones (organic mercury and inorganic mercury) or to differentiate in biological matrices non-toxic from toxic metal organic species (arsenobetaine from other toxic arseno-organic compounds). Moreover, with the recently developed multi-ultrasonicators sample throughput has been greatly increased. The development of glass probes has also led to avoid contamination from metals, which allows obtaining better quantification limits when working with metals such as Al. In very recent works the ultrasonication potential in conjunction with enzymes, has markedly enhanced the ability to extract metals from solid matrices with metal species preservation. This paper provides a fast approach to ultrasonication applications in Analytical Chemistry along with some useful recommendations in this field.