Due to their low cost, biodegradability, and ease of
preparation,
deep eutectic solvents (DESs) are considered promising green alternatives
to conventional solvents, as exploiting green solvents has been a
research focus for achieving sustainable development goals. Most DESs
in published studies are hydrophilic. On the other hand, the DES’s
hydrophilicity restricts its practical applicability to just polar
molecules, which is a vital disadvantage to this extractant. Hydrophobic
DES (HDES) has been developed as a new extractant adept at extracting
nonpolar inorganic and organic compounds from aqueous systems. Although
there has been little research on HDESs (HDES publications account
for <10% of DES), specific intriguing applications have been discovered,
requiring investigation and comparisons. As a result, this review
covers the applications of emerging HDES in detecting pesticide residues,
food additives, contaminants in food packaging, heavy metals, separation
and extraction processes in food. According to the available literature,
HDESs have the potential to overcome the limitations of hydrophilic
DESs and be used in a broader range of applications in food with greater
efficiency, which has received little attention. HDES is expected
to substitute a lot of harmful organic extractants used for analytical
reasons (food chemistry) in the future. Besides, the limitations of
HDES were reviewed, and future studies were provided. This will serve
as a reference for green chemistry advocates and practitioners in
food science who want to minimize pollution and improve efficiency
and benefit from the further development of HDESs.