Fractionation analysis of manganese and zinc in beers by means of two sorbent column system and flame atomic absorption spectrometry

In the present article, a method of operational fractionation of Mn and Zn in beer using flame atomic absorption spectrometry was developed. The proposed fractionation scheme was based on use of a hydrophobic adsorbing resin Amberlite XAD7 (first column, 2 g resin bed) connected in a series with a strong cation exchanger Dowex 50Wx4 (second column, 1 g resin bed). After passing the samples of beers through the columns, distinct groupings of Mn and Zn species retained on the sorbents, i.e., hydrophobic fraction of polyphenols bound metal species and cationic metal species fraction, respectively, were determined in respective eluates obtained after complete recovery of Mn and Zn species with 10 ml of 2.0 mol l⁻¹ HNO₃ (first column) and 10 ml of 4.0 mol l⁻¹ HCl (second column). In addition, the effluents collected were analyzed prior to the evaluation of the third, residual fraction, presumably attributed to any hydrophilic anionic and inert metal species. The established fractionation patterns for Mn and Zn were discussed in reference to likely associations of metals with endogenous food bioligands and possible availability of the distinguished metal species classes. The quality of the results was proved by the recovery experiments.