Projects for the improvement of the quality of chemical speciation analyses in environmental matrices

Summary The release of organometallic compounds and other chemical forms of elements in the environment has caused great concern because of their possible high toxicity. To validate the analytical techniques, the Community Bureau of Reference (BCR) has undertaken a series of projects for the improvement of the quality of determinations of chemical species in environmental matrices. The implementation of these projects follows a stepwise approach involving intercomparisons to detect and remove sources of errors in different phases of the analytical methods and the certification of the compounds in various matrices. The current projects deal with the determination of the extractable content of trace metals in soils (single extraction) and sediment (sequential extraction), forms of aluminium in water, elements with different oxidation states (e.g. As, Cr and Se) and organic forms (e.g. methylated forms of As in solution, methyl-mercury in fish, arseno-betaine and -choline in solutions, triethyl- and trimethyl-Pb compounds in solution, and butyltin compounds in sediment).Abbreviations AAS atomic absorption spectrometry - CVAAS cold vapour AAS - DPP differential pulse polarography - ECD electron capture detector - ETAAS electrothermal AAS - FIA flow injection analysis - FID flame ionisation detector - FLUOR spectrofluorimetry - FPD flame photometric detector - GC gas chromatography - HG hydride generation - HPLC high performance liquid chromatography - HPLC-AES HPLC atomic emission spectrometry - INAA instrumental neutron activation analysis - ICPAES Inductively coupled plasma AES - MS mass spectrometry - QFAAS quartz furnace AAS - RNAA neutron activation analysis with radiochemical separation