A derivatisation agent selection guide

Abstract

The study reported herein is aimed at the greenness assessment of 267 derivatisation agents that are frequently applied in analytical chemistry and related disciplines. Multicriteria decision analysis allowed obtaining three rankings of derivatisation agents applied in liquid chromatography, gas chromatography and chiral analysis. The criteria of assessment included the safety information obtained from material safety data sheets and physicochemical and environmental parameters predicted with relevant models. As for some of the agents predicted data were not available, these agents were assessed with a smaller number of criteria, within the ranking of low confidence. The results of the study will help to apply greener derivatisation agents, wherever the green chemistry principle of avoiding derivatisation cannot be fulfilled.