Speciation of aluminum in drink samples by 8-hydroxyquinoline loaded silylanization silica gel microcolumn separation with off-line ICP-MS detection.

A technique using a flow injection microcolumn separation coupled with ICP-MS detection has been developed for the speciation of Al in drink samples. The retention behaviors of different Al species were studied with 8-hydroxyquinoline (8-HQ) loaded silylanization silica gel as the packing material and inorganic acid (HNO3) as the elution. The results indicated that in a pH range of 5.0 to 8.0, all labile monomeric Al species were retained on the microcolumn while nonlabile monomeric Al species were directly passed through the column. Various Al species after separation were detected by ICP-MS. The detection limit of 0.2 ng mL(-1) and a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 4.2% at 10 ng mL(-1) (n = 11) were achieved, and the recoveries for the spiked samples were 95-108%. The proposed method has been applied to the analysis of Al species in tea infusions, coffee, and tap waters with satisfactory results. The results obtained by this method were compared with that obtained by the cation exchange microcolumn separation and ICP-MS detection system, and some valuable conclusions were drawn.