APPLICATION OF MULTIELEMENT TIME-RESOLVED ANALYSIS TO A RAPID ONLINE MATRIX SEPARATION SYSTEM FOR INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-MASS SPECTROMETRY

A rapid on-line matrix separation system for ICP-MS, using multi-eleme nt time-resolved analysis, was developed for the determination of seve ral trace elements in complex matrix samples, A flow injection manifol d was constructed consisting of a mini-column of 8-hydroxyquinoline co valently immobilized on to controlled pore glass, Analytes retained on the column were eluted using 0.1 mi of 2.0 mol l(-1) nitric acid, Sam ple volumes of 0.5 mi were analysed, yielding a preconcentration facto r of 5 in addition to matrix separation, The system was optimized with respect to the variables of buffer concentration, buffer pH and eluen t acid volume and concentration, Calibrations from both pure water and synthetic sea-water compared well and showed good linearity, with cor relation coefficients of 0.988-0.999 for a range of analytes, The meth od showed good within-run reproducibility with precisions (s(r)) at th e 1 ng ml(-1) level of typically <3%, In general, recoveries between 8 9 and 104% were obtained, with the exception of Ni, which showed a rec overy of 78% under the compromise conditions used. The method was vali dated by the analysis of estuarine (SLEW-1) and coastal (CASS-2) certi fied reference materials, Good agreement with the certified values was obtained for both of these materials.