Confirmation of iron complex formation using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS) and sample stacking for analysis of iron polycarboxylate speciation by capillary electrophoresis

The use of capillary electrophoresis (CE) and UV detection for the determination of metal speciation is based on the standards via matching migration time. Consequently, it requires that the metal species are stable during electrophoresis. Migration time of the metal species is dependent on the electrolyte composition. However, the stability for such metal complexes is also dependent on electrolyte composition and electrolyte-specific stability is not always well known. In this paper, the stability of iron (Fe) polycarboxylate complex formation was determined using electrospray ionization mass spectrometry (ESI-MS). Mass spectra indicates that FeDTPA]²⁻, FeEDTA]⁻, FeHEDTA] and FeNTA] were present in solution but the mass spectrum for FeNTA] was found to be weak. An electrolyte containing 25 mM NaH₂PO₄ and 0.25 mM tetradecyltrimethylammonium bromide (TTAB) at pH 6.0 was used to successfully separate FeDTPA]²⁻, FeEDTA]¹⁻ and FeHEDTA]. The instability of FeNTA] meant it was not observed due to its instability during electrophoresis. To improve UV detection limits sample stacking techniques, such as large volume sample stacking (LVSS) without polarity switching and filed-amplified sample injection (FASI), were investigated. The results show that less than 0.01 μM detection limits for the Fe complexes were obtained using FASI. The calibration plots were linear from 0.05-3.0 with good reproducibility (peak area: 6.5-8.1%) when a water plug was used. Finally, the proposed method was demonstrated for the determination of trace Fe complexes in river waters.