Speciation with CE-ICP-MS

The importance of capillary electrophoresis (CE) in separation science has increased dramatically over the last 10 years. The complementarity of CE to other separation techniques, especially high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), has made its presence essential in a modern 

Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry Handbook 

The key to successful post-column detection in CE-ICP-MS is to establish efficient transport of nanolitre amounts of sample, without affecting the separation process. The first hyphenation of CE to ICP-MS was accomplished using a conventional concentric nebuUser in combination with a conical spray chamber. It was evident from this first publication that interface development was challenging. The fundamental requirements for hyphenation of CE to ICP-MS can be summarised as follows  

The interface must adapt to the low flow rate (nL/min) in CE by use of a make-up liquid, as most nebulisers for ICP-MS are designed to operate at flow rates in the pL/min to mL/min 

The electric circuit must be achieved by grounding the CE capillary exit end. Stable electric current is crucial for reproducible separations. 

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