Capabilities of microbore columns coupled to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry in speciation of arsenic and selenium

The performance of microHPLC-microconcentric nebulizer-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) coupling for the simultaneous determination of As(III), As(V), monomethylarsenic acid (MMA), dimethylarsinic acid (DMA), selenite(SeIV) and selenate(SeVI) in water was evaluated. The accurate reduction of the off-column dead volume, specially the capillary of the micronebulizer, as well as the optimization of chromatographic conditions led to the claimed advantages expected for microbore columns: a significant diminution of sample and solvent consumption without sacrificing sensitivity and the overall resolution in faster analysis time (less than 5 min). Detection limits are in the range 0.03-0.04 mu g L-1 for arsenic species and 0.35 mu g L-1 for selenium species. The developed method was validated by analysing different spiked environmental water samples. Linearity, tested LIP to 50 mu g L-1, showed correlation coefficients above 0.999 and no matrix effect for high saline water samples. Good accuracy and repeatability was obtained for spiked influent and effluent water treatment plant. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.