Simultaneous determination of arsenic, selenium, and mercury by Ion exchange-vapor generation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry

Ion exchange (IE)-vapor generation (VG)-inductively coupled plasma (ICP)-mass spectrometry (MS) method has been employed to simultaneously determine trace amounts of As, Se, and Hg in acidic conditions. Before hydride generation, anion-exchange column was used to separate the analytes from the matrix. Effects of sample solution acidity, eluant conditions and concentrating time were investigated and optimized. The method sensitivity was improved, as well as the ability to refrain interference caused by chloride, mental ions and other hydride-forming elements compared with (CF)VG-ICP-MS method. Limits of detection (3σ, n = 10) for As, Se, and Hg were As, 0.0021 ng/ml; Se, 0.0022 ng/ml; Hg, 0.0007 ng/ml, respectively; and recovery values for interference experiments were between 95.6 and 100.3%. The developed method was applied to four standard biological and geological materials, and the determined results of As, Se, and Hg were consistent with the certified values.