Determination of iodide and thiocyanate in seawater by liquid chromatography with poly(ethylene glycol) stationary phase

Novel, simple, rapid, highly sensitive, and direct determination of iodide and thiocyanate ions in seawater has been performed by liquid chromatography (LC) with UV detection at 220 nm. The separation was achieved on a C-30 column of conventional size (150 mm x 4.6 mm i.d.) modified with poly(ethylene glycol); an aqueous solution of 300 mm sodium sulfate and 50 mm sodium chloride was used as mobile phase. Detection limits (SIN = 3) obtained by injecting a 20-mu L sample were 0.5 and 6 ng mL(-1) for iodide and thiocyanate, respectively. The method was successfully used for rapid and direct determination of iodide and thiocyanate in seawater samples, collected from the coasts of Japan, without any extra pretreatment.