Determination of bromate and bromoacetic acids in water by ion chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

A new method for the simultaneous determination of bromate and six bromoacetic acids in water was developed by online coupling anion-exchange chromatography separation to element-specific inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) detection. Factors affecting the chromatographic and ICP-MS performances were systematically investigated. The separation was achieved on a Dionex IonPac(R) AS11-HC column (4.0x250 mm) by elution with 100 mM ammonium nitrate. The detection limits (3sigma) of the analytes were 0.13-0.36 mug L(-1) based on a 500-muL sample injection. The possible masking of bromochloroacetic acid by the relatively high level of bromide in the chromatogram was avoided by sample pretreatment with Dionex OnGuard(R) Ag and H cartridges. The sample matrix did not show significant influence on the analysis. The method has been applied to analysis of various waters with good precisions and spiked recoveries of 80.8-113.8%.