β-blockers are among the most prescribed drugs and frequently recommended in patients with hypertension, angina, myocardial infarction, arrhythmias, and heart failure. Additionally, since β-blockers cause low anxiety, they are abused by athletes in branches where aiming is important. β-blocker residues may be present in environmental samples due to high consumption. At this point, the development of sensitive, rapid, and reliable analytical methods is very important for determination of β-blockers in different matrices. Among all the analytical methods, chromatographic methods are used in a wide range for the determination of β-blockers as they enable simultaneous determination of many analytes and removal of interfering components. Electrochemical methods, which usually do not require any pretreatment process, have become important due to their reliability, high specificity, and fast response. Simple and rapid optical methods can be used in laboratories where modern and expensive instruments such as high-performance liquid chromatography or gas chromatography are not available. The objective of this review is to provide an overview of the analytical methods for determination of β-blockers in pharmaceuticals, biological fluids, and environmental samples. Some selected studies for the determination of β-blockers published in the last decade are discussed. Furthermore, current trends and future perspectives on β-blocker analyses are also suggested.
Keywords: electrochemistry; liquid chromatography; sample preparation; spectrophotometry; β-blockers.