Bioanalytical derivatization: is there still room for development?

“Derivatization in its simplest and most effective form will likely stay the basis of rapid and cheap color test reactions for drug substances, diagnostic markers and many more.” Derivatization can be defined as the transformation of a chemical compound into a product (derivative) by altering one or more of its functional groups, thereby making it suitable for a certain purpose. In bioanalysis, this usually means enabling separation and/or detection (visualization).  Derivatization based on selective reactivities of functional groups dates back from the very early days of organic chemistry, when scientists could not yet rely on spectroscopic and other instrumental techniques...