Determination of trace metals in air particulate matters by capillary electrophoresis with spectrophotometric detection

Abstract

The application of capillary electrophoresis (CE) for trace metal analysis in air particulate matters is illustrated in three areas. The first area is the development of sample pretreatment method. The second is the optimization of the CE buffers. The use of strong and weak complex system is compared using histidine and 4-methylbenzylamine for indirect UV detection and 8-hydroxyquinoline-5-sulphonic acid (HQS) for direct UV detection for CE separation of alkali and alkaline earth metals with transition metals. The role of lactic acid, 18-crown-6 and other additives to effect satisfactory separation of closely co-migrated pairs and to achieve suitable separation of large amounts of alkali metals from trace levels of transition metals is also discussed for both leachable and total metals present in air particulate matters.