Micellar liquid chromatography: A green and sustainable approach for the simultaneous pharmaceutical drug analysis

The pharmaceutical industry, while vital for human health, carries a significant environmental footprint. Established analytical methods, particularly high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), often rely on hazardous chemical solvents and generate substantial waste. HPLC generates over 34 million liters of chemical waste annually worldwide. This necessitates a paradigm shift toward greener approaches. Micellar liquid chromatography (MLC) emerges as a viable green analytical alternative by utilizing micellar mobile phases, minimizing or eliminating the need for traditional organic solvents, and exhibiting favorable toxicity profiles, thus aligning with the 12 GAC principles. This review article examines the increasing prevalence of MLC for the simultaneous quantification of pharmaceutical analytes in diverse matrices, with a delineation of its underlying principles, encompassing surfactant selection, mobile phase optimization, and stationary phase contributions to analyte separation. It assesses the environmental footprint of MLC through greenness metrics such as AGREE, GAPI, MoGAPI, Eco-Scale, and BAGI, and evaluates its interoperability with existing RPLC systems. Finally, provides an overview of recent applications of MLC in simultaneous pharmaceutical drug analysis, demonstrating its potential for an accurate, efficient, and more sustainable future for pharmaceutical analytical practices. • Examines the increased prevalence of MLC for the simultaneous quantification of pharmaceutical analytes. • Environmental footprint of MLC through greenness metrics such as AGREE, GAPI, MoGAPI, Eco-Scale, and BAGI, and evaluates its interoperability with existing RPLC systems. • MLC in simultaneous pharmaceutical drug analysis, demonstrating its potential for an accurate, efficient, and more sustainable future for pharmaceutical analytical practices.