Determination of trace BrO3- and Br- in Chinese patent drugs, waters and beverages by ion chromatography coupled with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

In the present study, a method for determination of BrO3- and Br- using ion chromatograghy coupling with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (IC-ICP-MS) was developed. BrO3- and Br- were separated on a Hamilton PRP X-100 (150 x 4.1 mm, 10 microm) column guarding with a On-guard II RP (4 x 50 mm) column with 10 mmol x L(-1) NH4NO3 eluent solution at 2 mL x min(-1). By using 200 microL sample loop, the detection limits for BrO3- and Br were 0.35 and 0.36 microg x L(-1), respectively. BrO3- had good linearity in the range 4.8-160.0 ng x L(-1). The standard solution linear equation was y = 250.31x-45.43, and R2 = 0.9999. Br had good linearity in the range 4.2-140.0 ng x L(-1). The standard solution linear equation was y = 186.84x-127.10, and R2 = 0.9994. Recoveries of spiked samples were 98.9%-109.5% and 97.4%-106.1%, respectively. The samples included various kinds of Chinese patent drugs, waters, and beverages. Among them, 14 bottled drinking waters and 2 kinds of tap waters were found containing BrO-, while other samples were under BrO3- detection limit. Br- was detected in all samples.