A non-suppressed conductivity detection ion chromatographic
method using a weakly acidic cation-exchange column (Tosoh TSKgel OApak-A)
was developed for the simultaneous separation and determination of common
inorganic anions (Cl−, NO3−
and SO42-) and cations (Na+,
NH4+, K+, Mg2+ and
Ca2+). A satisfactory separation of these anions and cations on
the weakly acidic cation-exchange column was achieved in 25 min by elution
with a mixture of 1.6 mmol L−1 pyridine-2,6-dicarboxylic
acid and 8.0 mmol L−1 18-crown-6 at flow rate of 1.0 mL
min−1. On this weakly acidic cation-exchange resin, anions
were retained by an ion-exclusion mechanism and cations by a
cation-exchange mechanism. The linear range of the peak area calibration
curves for all analytes were up to two orders of magnitude. The detection
limits calculated at S/N = 3 ranged from 0.25 to 1.9 μmol
L−1 for anions and cations. The ion-exclusion
chromatography–cation-exchange chromatography method developed in
this work was successfully applied to the simultaneous determination of
major inorganic anions and cations in rainwater, tap water and snow water
samples.
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