Simultaneous separation of common mono- and divalent cations on a zirconium-modified silica gel column by ion chromatography with non-suppressed conductimetric detection and tartaric acid–15-crown-5 as eluent

The application of laboratory-made zirconium-modified silica gels (Zr-silicas) as cation-exchange stationary phases to ion chromatography with conductimetric detection (IC–CD) for common mono- and divalent cations (Li⁺, Na⁺, NH₄⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺) was carried out. Zr-silicas were prepared by the reaction of the silanol group on the surface of silica gel with zirconium tetrabutoxide (Zr(OCH₂CH₂CH₂CH₃)₄) in ethanol. Zr-silica adsorbed on 10 mg zirconium g⁻¹ silica gel was a suitable cation-exchange stationary phase in IC–CD for the separation of these mono- and divalent cations. Excellent simultaneous separation and highly sensitive detection for these cations were achieved in 10 min by IC–CD using a Zr-silica column (150×4.6 mm I.D.) and 10 mM tartaric acid containing 10 mM 15-crown-5 (1,4,7,10,13-pentaoxacyclopentadecane) as the eluent. The proposed IC–CD method was successfully applied to the determination of major mono- and divalent cations in natural water samples.     

Simultaneous separation of common mono- and divalent cations on silica gel modified with aluminium by non-suppressed ion chromatography with conductimetric detection and nitric acid–15-crown-5 as eluent

The modification of silica gel with aluminium by a coating method was very effective for the preparation of silica-based stationary phases which acted as a cation exchanger under strongly acidic conditions. However, the separation of common mono- and divalent cations (Li⁺, Na⁺, NH₄⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺) on an aluminium-adsorbing silica (Al-Silica) column was moderate by a conductimetric detection ion chromatography (IC) with strongly acidic eluents. Then, the addition of various crown ethers (12-crown-4, 15-crown-5 and 18-crown-6) in acidic eluent was carried out. As a result, it was found that 15-crown-5 was most effective for the improvement of peak resolution. Excellent separation of these cations was achieved in 20 min by elution with 2 mM nitric acid–2 mM 15-crown-5. The proposed IC was successfully applied to the determination of major cations in various natural waters.     

High-capacity cation-exchange column for enhanced resolution of adjacent peaks of cations in ion chromatography

One of the advantages of ion chromatography [Anal Chem. 47 (1975) 1801] as compared to other analytical techniques is that several ions may be analyzed simultaneously. One of the most important contributions of cation-exchange chromatography is its sensitivity to ammonium ion, which is difficult to analyze by other techniques [J. Weiss, in: E.L. Johnson (Ed.), Handbook of Ion Chromatography, Dionex, Sunnyvale, CA, USA]. The determination of low concentrations of ammonium ion in the presence of high concentrations of sodium poses a challenge in cation-exchange chromatography [J. Weiss, Ion Chromatography, VCH, 2nd Edition, Weinheim, 1995], as both cations have similar selectivities for the common stationary phases containing either sulfonate or carboxylate functional groups. The task was to develop a new cation-exchange stationary phase (for diverse concentration ratios of adjacent peaks) to overcome limitations experienced in previous trails. Various cation-exchange capacities and column body formats were investigated to optimize this application and others. The advantages and disadvantages of two carboxylic acid columns of different cation-exchange capacities and different column formats will be discussed.     

Separation and determination of pyrrolidinium ionic liquid cations by ion chromatography with direct conductivity detection

A method for rapid and simultaneous determination of multiple pyrrolidinium ionic liquid cations by ion chromatography with direct conductivity detection was developed.Chromatographic separations were performed on a cation exchange column using ethylenediamine-acetonitrile as the mobile phase.The effects of chromatographic column and the mobile phase,as well as the column temperature on the retention of the cations were investigated.The retention rules of the cations under different chromatographic conditions were formulated.The retention of the cations followed the carbon number rule.The method has been successfully applied to the determination of three ionic liquids synthesized by a chemical laboratory.     

Determination of sodium and ammonium ions in disproportionate concentration ratios by ion chromatography

In ion chromatography, samples of very different ammonium-to-sodium concentration ratios are difficult to quantify since these two cations have similar selectivities for stationary phases containing commonly used sulfonate or carboxylate cation-exchange functional groups. The IonPac CS15 cation-exchange column, with carboxylate and phosphonate functional groups as well as a crown ether group, was developed to address this limitation. Selectivity for the common inorganic cations on this column is different from that of conventional cation-exchange columns in that the separation between sodium and ammonium ions has been greatly increased, allowing for determinations of low levels of one in the presence of high levels of the other with an isocratic eluent. For larger than 4000:1 sodium-to-ammonium concentration ratios, an eluent step change or gradient elution is needed. For moderate ratios, combinations of this column with a carboxylate column, containing no crown ether group, can be used at room temperature with an isocratic eluent containing no organic solvent.     

离子色谱-直接电导检测法分析哌啶离子液体阳离子

建立了离子色谱-直接电导检测法分析N-甲基,乙基哌啶(［MEPi］+)、N-甲基,丙基哌啶(［MPPi］+)和N-甲基,丁基哌啶(［MBPi］+) 3种哌啶离子液体阳离子的方法。采用磺酸型阳离子交换色谱柱,以乙二胺-柠檬酸-乙腈为流动相。考察了流动相组成及色谱柱温度对哌啶阳离子保留的影响,并讨论了保留规律。结果表明,哌啶阳离子的保留是一个放热过程,即哌啶阳离子的保留时间随着色谱柱温度的升高而缩短,且哌啶阳离子同系物的保留符合碳数规律。在以0.2 mmol/L乙二胺-0.3 mmol/L柠檬酸-3%(v/v)乙腈(pH 4.4)为流动相、流速1.0 mL/min、柱温30 ℃条件下,［MEPi］+、［MPPi］+和［MBPi］+3种哌啶阳离子可以在7 min内分离,检出限(信噪比为3)分别为0.14、0.20和0.56 mg/L,峰面积的相对标准偏差(n=5)在1.2%以下。将此方法应用于分析实验室合成的哌啶离子液体样品,加标回收率在97.6%与105.1%之间。本方法准确、可靠、快速,具有较好的实用性。     

Ion-exchange properties of hypercrosslinked polystyrene impregnated with methyl orange

A novel bipolar stationary phase (HCPS–MO) was prepared by impregnation of hypercrosslinked polystyrene (HCPS) with methyl orange (MO; 4-dimethylamino-4′-sulfoazobenzene) and its ion-exchange properties were studied. Simultaneous separation of cations and anions on HCPS–MO is possible, although it behaves preferentially as a cation-exchanger. Unusual selectivity of HCPS-MO for alkali and alkaline-earth metal cations: Na⁺+K⁺+4⁺+ and Mg²⁺2+2+2+ was observed. The effect of temperature on retention of alkali and alkaline-earth metal cations was studied. Separation of Na⁺, K⁺, Rb⁺, NH₄⁺, Cs⁺, Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺ on HCPS–MO with diluted cerium(III) nitrate solution as an eluent in single run is presented.     

Capillary electrophoresis of organic and inorganic cations with indirect UV detection

Summary The determination of alkali and alkaline earth metal ions by capillary electrophoresis using indirect UV detection is described. With the identical system it is also possible to determine short chain aliphatic amines and alkanol amines within 4 minutes. Indirect UV detection is achieved at 214 nm with a background electrolyte containing 5 mmol L^–1 imidazole. Linear calibration curves could be obtained for peak areas between 0.5 and 10 ppm. The detection limits are around 0.1 ppm (corresponding to 10 fmol in about 10 nL sample volume) for all cations and amines and 0.05 ppm for lithium. Practical applications demonstrate the applicability of this system in routine analysis.     

Separation and determination of inorganic cations in beverages by capillary electrophoresis with indirect UV detection

A rapid, simple and reliable capillary electrophoresis method for the separation and quantitation of inorganic cations with indirect UV detection at 214 nm was developed. The electrolyte was: 12 mM imidazole as background absorbance provider; 5 mM malic acid and 1.0 mM 18-crown-6 ether as complexing agents; and 20% D₂O (v/v) to improve ion mobility. The pH was 4.25. The applied voltage was 22 kV at 22°C. Nine ions were completely separated and determined with correlation coefficients of 0.9979-0.9992. The relative standard deviations (RSD) were less than 0.5% for migration time and less than 5.2% for peak area (n=8). The detection limits (S/N=3) were from 0.08 mg L⁻¹ (for Na⁺) to 0.51 mg L⁻¹ (for Cu²⁺). To assess the reliability atomic absorption (AA) was also used to determine the same samples. Satisfactory results were obtained for real samples of jasmine tea drink and coconut milk.      

Indirect ultraviolet spectrophotometric detection in the ion chromatography of common mono- and divalent cations on an aluminium adsorbing silica gel column with tyramine-containing crown ethers as eluent

The application of laboratory-made aluminium-adsorbing silica gel (Al-Silica) as a cation-exchange stationary phase to ion chromatography-indirect photometric detection (IC-IPD) for common mono- and divalent cations (Li+, Na+, NH+, K+, Mg2+ and Ca2+) was carried out by using protonated tyramine (4-aminoethylphenol) as eluent ion. When using 1.2 mM tyramine-0.2 mM oxalic acid at pH 4.5 as eluent, incomplete separation of the monovalent cations and complete separation of the divalent cations were achieved in 17 min. Then, the addition of crown ethers in the eluent was carried out for the complete separation of the mono- and divalent cations. As a result, when using 1.2 mM tyramine--0.2 mM oxalic acid at pH 4.5 containing either 5 mM 15-crown-5 (1,4,7,10,13-pentaoxacyclopentadecane) or 0.5 mM and 18-crown-6 (1,4,7,10,13,16-hexaoxacyclooctadecane) as eluent, excellently simultaneous separation of these cations was achieved in 21 min. The proposed IC-IPD was successfully applied to the determination of major cations in natural water samples.     

Performance of ion chromatography in the determination of anions and cations in various natural waters with elevated mineralization

The performance of ion chromatography in the determination of anions and cations in natural mineral waters of different composition and different total mineralization was evaluated. Up to 12 ions of the 20 usually included in extended chemical analysis of natural waters were successfully determined by ion chromatography alone. At least 98.60% and up to 99.96% of total cation composition of mineral waters was determined by ion chromatography. Hydrogen carbonate predominated in anion composition of mineral waters and was determined titrimetrically. The percentage of anions determined by ion chromatography in the remaining anion composition of mineral waters was between 98.90% and 99.96%. The agreement between total concentrations of anions and cations in individual mineral waters determined predominantly by ion chromatography is very good and the performance of ion chromatography for the basic and for the extended chemical analysis of highly mineralized water samples is very high. Method development was assisted by previously developed algorithms and appropriate experimental conditions are also discussed.     

Ion-exclusion chromatography with the direct UV detection of non-absorbing inorganic cations using an anion-exchange conversion column in the iodide-form

An ion-exclusion chromatographic method for the direct UV detection of non-absorbing inorganic cations such as sodium (Na⁺), ammonium (NH₄⁺) and hydrazine (N₂H₅⁺) ions was developed by connecting an anion-exchange column in the I⁻-form after the separation column. For example, NH₄⁺ is converted to a UV-absorbing molecule, NH₄I, by the anion-exchange column in the I⁻-form after the ion-exclusion separation on anion-exchange column in the OH⁻-form with water eluent. As a result, the direct UV detection of Na⁺, NH₄⁺ and N₂H₅⁺ could be successfully obtained as well as the well-resolved separation. The calibration graphs of the analyte cations detected with UV at 230 nm were linear in the range of 0.001-5.0 mM. The detection limits at S/N = 3 of the cations were below 0.1 μM. This method was applied to real water analysis, the determination of NH₄⁺ in river and rain waters, or that of N₂H₅⁺ in boiler water, with the satisfactory results. This could be applied also to low- or non-absorbing anions such as fluoride or hydrogencarbonate ions by the combination of a weakly acidic cation-exchange resin in the H⁺-form as the separation column and the anion-exchange conversion column.     

Determination of sodium,potassium, calcium and magnesium cations in biodiesel by ion chromatography

This work reports an ion chromatographic (IC) method for the quantitative determination of inorganic cations (Na⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺) in biodiesel samples that were synthesized from different vegetable oils and fat. The proposed method uses water extraction, heating and ultrasound. The limits of detection (LOD) for each ion, in milligrams of the analyte per kilogram of biodiesel (mg kg⁻¹), were respectively: 0.11 (Na⁺); 0.42 (K⁺); 0.23 (Ca²⁺); and 0.36 (Mg²⁺). The accuracy of the method was studied through recovery tests. For comparison, two samples were also analyzed using an Inductively Coupled Plasma Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) procedure. The paired Student t test and the Snedecor F test showed that both methods offer equivalent results in terms of accuracy and precision. The operational simplicity, accuracy and precision of the proposed method suggest that it can be a good alternative for the determination of inorganic cations in biodiesel samples.     

Ion chromatographic determination of alkali and alkaline earth metals in mineral waters

Summary The rapid, simultaneous, suppressed ion chromatographic determination of alkali, alkaline earth metals and ammonium in highly mineralized waters has been examined using the novel cation exchange IonPac CS12 column. General ability for the determination of lithium, sodium, ammounium, potassium, magnesium, calcium and strontium in concentrations from a few g to several mg per liter was studied. The relative standard deviations of retention times of all seven cations were below 0.7% and the relative standard deviations of the measurements of peak areas and peak heights were mostly below 5%. Six natural mineral waters of different types were selected for evaluation of the method. It was not possible to determine lithium in the one run and ammonium usually partially coelutes with sodium precluding quantitative determination. Strontium was undetectable because of the necessary dilutions. All the reltionships between peak areas and concentrations or peak height and concentrations were linear and there was also no evidence of the effect of different matrices on the slope of regression lines.     

Development of an inorganic cations retention model in ion chromatography by means of artificial neural networks with different two-phase training algorithms

This paper describes development of artificial neural network (ANN) retention model, which can be used for method development in variety of ion chromatographic applications. By using developed retention model it is possible both to improve performance characteristic of developed method and to speed up new method development by reducing unnecessary experimentation. Multilayered feed forward neural network has been used to model retention behaviour of void peak, lithium, sodium, ammonium, potassium, magnesium, calcium, strontium and barium in relation with the eluent flow rate and concentration of methasulphonic acid (MSA) in eluent. The probability of finding the global minimum and fast convergence at the same time were enhanced by applying a two-phase training procedure. The developed two-phase training procedure consists of both first and second order training. Several training algorithms were applied and compared, namely: back propagation (BP), delta-bar-delta, quick propagation, conjugate gradient, quasi Newton and Levenberg-Marquardt. It is shown that the optimized two-phase training procedure enables fast convergence and avoids problems arisen from the fact that every new weight initialization can be regarded as a new starting position and yield irreproducible neural network if only second order training is applied. Activation function, number of hidden layer neurons and number of experimental data points used for training set were optimized in order to insure good predictive ability with respect to speeding up retention modelling procedure by reducing unnecessary experimental work. The predictive ability of optimized neural networks retention model was tested by using several statistical tests. This study shows that developed artificial neural network are very accurate and fast retention modelling tool applied to model varied inherent non-linear relationship of retention behaviour with respect to mobile phase parameters.     

Evaluation of headspace solid-phase microextraction for the analysis of volatile carbonyl compounds in spirits and alcoholic beverages

A method was developed for the determination of C1-C6 carbonyl compounds in alcoholic solutions using pentafluorobenzoxymation followed by headspace sampling solid-phase microextraction and subsequent analysis by GC with electron-capture detection. Experimental conditions-alcohol content, exposure time, temperature and sample agitation were optimised. In this method, a spirit or distilled alcoholic beverage is first adjusted to 20% (v/v) alcohol. Detection limits for particular aldehydes and ketone varied from 0.05 to 0.5 microg/l and relative standard deviation was between 2.3 and 20%. Generally, the method showed good linearity for the tested concentration range 8 microg/l-0.32 mg/l with regression coefficients ranging between 0.9434 and 0.9983. The method was applied to the analysis of real alcoholic beverages (vodkas).     

Ion chromatographic separation of hydrogen ion and other common mono- and divalent cations

We introduced an approach to the ion chromatographic determination of common mono- and divalent cations including hydrogen ion and demonstrated the ability of a C30 column dynamically coated first with dodecylsulfate and then with 18-crown-6 ether to separate the cations by ion-exchange mechanism. Using an ethylenediamine solution containing a small concentration of 18-crown-6 ether and lithium dodecylsulfate at pH 6.2 as eluent, the cations were eluted in the order Li < Na+ < NH4+ < H+ < K+ < Mg2+ < Ca2+ with symmetrical peaks. The conductivity vs. concentration plots were linear about three orders of magnitude, from millimolar to micromolar; and the detection limits were all < 0.6 microM. Rainwater was analyzed directly using this ion chromatographic system with satisfactory results.     

Determination of sulfur oxyanions by ion chromatography on a silica ODS column with tetrapropylammonium salt as an ion-pairing reagent

The difficulty in using conventional ion chromatography for the determination of sulfate, thiosulfate, dithionate and polythionates (tri-, tetra-, penta- and hexathionate) in their mixtures, comes mainly from very late elutions of polythionates due to their strong retentions onto a separating column. Rapid and sensitive determination of these sulfur oxyanions has been achieved by ion-pair chromatography using a silica octadecylsilane (ODS) column with mobile phases of 10% or 20% (v/v) acetonitrile in water (pH, 5.0) containing 0.2 mM phthalate and 7 mM tetrapropylammonium salt (TPAOH). The sulfur species separated on the column were monitored with a conductivity detector after passing through a micro membrane suppressor in the H⁺ form. When an acetonitrile-water (10:90, v/v) mobile phase (pH, 5.0) of 0.2 mM phthalate and 7 mM TPAOH was used at a flow-rate of 0.8 ml min⁻¹, sulfate, thiosulfate, dithionate and trithionate were eluted at short retention times of 9.1, 9.7, 11.4 and 15.8 min, respectively; however, the higher polythionates required more than 30 min to elute. When the concentration of acetonitrile in the mobile phase was raised to 20% (v/v), all polythionates of tri- to hexathionate were completely separated from their mixtures within 21 min; in this instance, both sulfate and thiosulfate failed to be resolved due to their close retention times. Good recoveries were obtained for these sulfur oxyanions when added to various hot-spring water samples.     

Tunable separation of anions and cations by column switching in ion chromatography

A convenient ion chromatography method has been proposed for the routine and simple determination of anions (Cl⁻, SO₄²⁻ and NO₃⁻) and/or cations (Na⁺, NH₄⁺, K⁺, Mg²⁺ and Ca²⁺) using a single pump, a single eluent and a single detector. The present system used cation-exchange and anion-exchange columns connected in series via two 6-port switching valves or a single 10-port valve. The connection order of the ion-exchange columns could be varied by switching the valve(s). The present system therefore allowed the separation of either cations or anions in a single chromatographic run. While one ion-exchange column is being operated, the other ion-exchange column is being conditioned, i.e., the columns are always ready for analysis at any time. When 2.4 mM 5-sulfosalicylic acid was used as the eluent, the three anions and the five cations could be separated on the anion-exchange column and cation-exchange column, respectively. In order to obtain the separations of the target ions, the injection valve was placed between the two columns. Complete separations of the above anions or cations were demonstrated within 10 min each. The detection limits at S/N = 3 were 19-50 ppb (μg/l) for cations and 10-14 ppb for anions. The relative standard deviations of the analyte ions were less than 1.1, 2.9 and 2.8% for retention time, peak area and peak height, respectively. This proposed technique was applied to the determination of common anions and cations in river water samples.     

Analysis of wastewater for anionic and cationic nutrients by ion chromatography in a single run with sequential flow injection analysis

To prevent nutrient enrichment and, hence the undesirable ecological impacts, the nutrients monitored in wastewater samples include two anionic species, i.e., nitrate and orthophosphate, and a cationic species, ammonium. Ion chromatography (IC) is one of the popularly used techniques for determinations of nitrate and phosphate in these samples, whereas determination of ammonium in wastewater samples is typically done using manual or automated wet chemistry, e.g., flow injection analysis (FIA). We have developed a sequential IC–FIA method, using Lachat’s QC8000 IC system, which allows determinations of nitrate, phosphate and ammonia in a single injection. In this system, a QuikChem Small Suppressor cartridge is regenerated in between the samples. A sample is injected while leaving the suppressor off-line. Ammonium, a cation, elutes in the void volume of an anion-exchange column. The unsuppressed column effluent, exiting the conductivity flow cell, up to this point is used for FIA determination of ammonia. When ammonia exits the conductivity flow cell, a fully regenerated suppressor is brought in-line for conductometric detection of the anions. Analog data are simultaneously acquired from colorimetric and conductometric detectors, for the cationic and anionic nutrients, respectively. The method is accurate with spike recoveries in wastewater samples ranging from 91% for nitrate to 114% for chloride. It is precise with RSD values, for replicate analyses (n=7) of a mid-range standard, ranging from 0.4% for phosphate to 1% for nitrate.