Cucurbiturils for environmental and analytical chemistry

Inclusion compounds may help solving many chemical problems, especially concerning phase transfer processes, selective binding, molecular capture or pre-concentration—limited analytical methods. Cucurbiturils emerged as a unique class of molecular containers: They offer a wide range of cavity sizes, multi-mode binding mechanisms with a vast series of guest molecules, allied to chemical, thermal and biofouling inertness. Thanks to simple preparation routes, cucurbiturils may deliver cost-effective alternatives to address environmental chemistry issues, as well as specific routine analysis procedures. The present review aims to present the research advances regarding cucurbiturils ( CB[n] ) in analytical chemistry and their applications in environmental remediation science and technology.