Simultaneous analysis of six inorganic anions in urine by double-suppress ion-exchange chromatography

This study is aimed to establish a simple, rapid, and accurate ion chromatography approach for the simultaneous detection of six inorganic anions in urine. Various performance parameters affecting the determination of anions were optimized, including the selection of sample protein precipitation agent, eluent, and flow rate. The final eluent was 3.6 mmol/L sodium carbonate and 12% isopropanol with a flow rate of 0.6 mL/min. Acetonitrile was used for pretreatment to precipitate proteins, and the volume ratio of urine to acetonitrile was 1:4. The correlation coefficient of the target anion calibration curve ranged from 0.9973 to 0.9999. The limit of detection ranged from 1.50 to 12.0 μg/L, and the method detection limit ranged from 15.0 to 120 μg/L. The standard recovery rate for low, medium, and high concentrations ranged from 90 to 110%. The inter-day and intra-day relative standard deviations were <5%. The method has high accuracy and good reproducibility and is suitable for the separation and determination of anions in urine.