Progress in the pretreatment and analysis of N-nitrosamines: an update since 2010

As highly toxic substances, N-nitrosamines (NAs) have been proved to cause carcinogenesis and mutagenesis in humans. Therefore, to carefully monitor safety and preserve human health, the development of rapid, accurate, and high-sensitivity determination methods of NAs is of substantial importance. This review provides a current-status comprehensive summary of the pretreatment and determination methods of NAs in various samples since 2010. Common pretreatment methods that have been used to extract and purify targets include solid-phase extraction, liquid-liquid extraction and various microextraction methods, such as solid-phase microextraction and liquid-phase microextraction, among others. Determination methods include liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, supercritical fluid chromatography and electrochemical methods, among others. In addition, we discuss and compare the advantages and disadvantages of various pretreatment and analytical methods and examine the prospects in this area.