Sustainable assessment of analytical techniques in COVID-19 pharmacotherapy: A greenness perspective

Abstract

The rapid development of analytical methods during the COVID-19 pandemic has pointed to the importance of chromatographic and mass spectrometric systems for drug quantification. In this review, the ecological sustainability of HPLC, UHPLC, LC-MS and LC-MS/MS workflows is critically discussed by using the well-established greenness assessment frameworks such as NEMI, Modified NEMI/AGP, Analytical Eco Scale, GAPI, BAGI and AGREE. A comparative analysis revealed a high heterogeneity of environmental performance, underlining the importance of including green evaluation criteria at the earliest stages of method design. The study is based on the pictogram-based visualisation incorporated with the quantitative scoring and provides a holistic appraisal of the ecological footprint corresponding to these techniques. Results indicate that a combination of several complementary greenness tools is required to provide a global and clear assessment able to direct laboratories toward greener practices while preserving analytical integrity. The study integrates pharmaceutical assessment with environmental protection and offers a systematic framework to develop more sustainable COVID-19 treatment methods, in support of global sustainability efforts.