ABSTRACT
In pesticide residue analysis, the development of an appropriated sample preparation procedure involving extraction, enrichment and clean-up steps becomes mandatory in order to obtain a final extract concentrated on target analytes and as free as possible of matrix compounds. Depending upon the kind of sample (solid or liquid) and the specific application (type of pesticide, concentration level, multi-residue analysis), the final procedure might involve the use of only one or the combination of several of different techniques. Thus, in this chapter, the different sample treatment techniques currently available and most commonly used in analytical laboratories for the analysis of pesticides in food and environmental samples are described. In addition to this, recent developments using nanomaterials in sample preparation are also described.
