Application of liquid chromatography in studies of microplastics

Microplastics have been found in all environmental compartments, evidencing the preoccupant contamination levels that have been reached after decades of careless debris management. Different articles have been published dealing with the determination of pollutants in microplastics found in the environment; nonetheless, liquid chromatography (LC) has been applied in few cases. This trend, however, is not prevalent in sorption or migration studies, where also gas chromatography has been applied to a similar extent. Furthermore, regardless of the technique used, an aspect that remains largely unexplored is the effect that microplastic-sorbed contaminants have on the environment and living organisms, with few exceptions in the literature where these effects have been assessed. In this book chapter, the application of LC in microplastic studies, which include, the determination of sorbed contaminants as well as sorption and migration studies has been reviewed and discussed.