Cocaine abuse has attracted increased attention in the recent past since it can cause addiction and great harm to the normal human body. Due to cocaine exists in various complex matrices, the detection of it in different matrices is helpful to prevent abuse. It is thus imperative to establish efficient and accurate methods for pretreatment and detection of cocaine in different samples. The present study provides a summary of the research progress of cocaine pretreatment methods (such as different microextraction methods, QuEChERS, and solid phase extraction based on novel extraction materials) and detection approaches (such as liquid chromatography coupled with different detectors, gas chromatography and related techniques, capillary electrophoresis and sensors). A comparison of the pros and cons of different pretreatment and detection methods is presented. The findings of this study will provide a reference for selection of the most suitable cocaine pretreatment and detection techniques.
Keywords: Cocaine; detection; pretreatment; update.