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

Abstract

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^® AS11-HC column (4.0 × 250 mm) by elution with 100 mM ammonium nitrate. The detection limits (3σ) of the analytes were 0.13–0.36 µg L⁻¹ based on a 500-µL 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^® 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%.