Accurate determination of element species by on-line coupling of chromatographic systems with ICP-MS using isotope dilution technique

Abstract The instrumental design for coupling different liquid chromatographic systems such as ion, reversed phase, and size exclusion chromatography as well as capillary gas chromatography, with ICP-MS for the determination of element species is described. For accurate analyses obtaining ‘real time’ concentrations of chromatographic peaks, the isotope dilution mass spectrometric (IDMS) technique is applied. Two different spiking modes are possible, one using species-specific and another one using species-unspecific spike solutions of isotope-enriched labelled compounds. The species-specific mode is only possible for element species well defined in their structure and composition, for examp…