Speciation by Coupled Chromatography-ICP-MS

The coupling of chromatography (GC, LC, and ion chromatography (IC)) or capillary electrophoresis (CE) to ICP-MS allows the separation of complex mixtures and speciation by compound or oxidation state of the elements present. GC is described in Chapter 12 LC including HPLC and 1C and the nonchromatographic separation method of CE are described in Chapter 13. All of these separation instruments have been interfaced to ICP-MS systems. Coupling a separation technique to a quadrupole ICP-MS may require the use of additional software that can handle transient signals such software is commercially available, as are complete hyphenated speciation ICP-MS systems. 

Speciation of compounds of environmental concern is another important application of coupled GC-ICP-MS and LC-ICP-MS. Arsenic compounds in shellfish are one example of the importance 

Source Modified from Eiiiott, S Analysis of Organic Solvents, Inoluding Naphtha by ICP-MS, Varian Applications Note ICP-MS-19, October 1998. All species would be in the form of ions as measured, used with permission. (Varian is now Agilent Technologies.) 

Foods and beverages of many types have been analyzed by ICP-MS. Solid or semisolid samples are generally digested with mineral add, as are some beverages. Peanut butter, commercial breakfast cereal, dried milk, fish and shellfish, wine, beer, and the like have been analyzed for trace elements such as Cu, Fe, Se, and Zn for nutritional purposes as well as for toxic metals like As and Pb. Al has been determined in many foods because dietary Al was being studied for a possible link to Alzheimer s disease no such link has been d onstrated. 

The unenhanced magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (described in Chapter 3) of tumors cannot always reliably distinguish tumors from normal tissue. However, gadolinium compounds targeted 

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