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Graphene oxide as a stationary phase for speciation of inorganic and organic species of mercury, arsenic and selenium using HPLC with ICP-MS detection

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Abstract

This work demonstrates the power of graphene and graphene oxide (GO) as stationary phases for high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) based elemental speciation analysis combined with detection by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). Inorganic mercuric and organomercuric compounds coordinate with 2-thiosalicylic acid (TSA) to form Hg-TSA complexes. These complexes are retained by GO owing to its strong π electron stacking capability for TSA. Separation of the four mercury species tested was achieved within 12 min with resolutions of 1.8–3.4. Similarly, inorganic anionic species of arsenic and selenium, and organoarsenicals are electrostatically attracted by aromatic quaternary ammonium cations in the mobile phases. Organoarsenicals also can be separated by using long alkyl quaternary ammonium compounds. Aromatic quaternary ammonium compounds possess particularly high affinity to GO because of strong π interaction. This leads to effective retention of the As/Se anions. A comparison between graphene and GO as stationary phases for HPLC separation of mercury and arsenic species demonstrates negligible difference. Arsenic species are separated within 32 min, and selenium species are achieved within 20 min. The mobile phase also allows efficient separation of iodate, iodide, bromate, bromide, chromic acid and chromate. Analysis of a certified fish tissue by HPLC-ICP-MS using the GO@SiO2 column demonstrates its feasibility for routine elemental analysis. Good agreement is found between experimental results and certified values, with recoveries ranging between 92 and 96%.

Graphene oxide as a stationary phase for high performance liquid chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric detection (HPLC-ICP-MS) in speciation analyses of mercury, arsenic, selenium, iodine, bromine and chromium is achieved for the first time.

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Acknowledgements

The authors acknowledge the financial support from the National Natural Science Foundation of China under project Nos. 21675037 and 21405030.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Material Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, Hangzhou Normal University, 2318 Yuhangtang Rd, Hangzhou, 311121, China

    Heyong Cheng, Wenwen Zhang & Yuanchao Wang

  2. Qianjiang College, Hangzhou Normal University, 16 Xuelin St, Hangzhou, 310036, China

    Jinhua Liu

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Correspondence to Jinhua Liu.

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Cheng, H., Zhang, W., Wang, Y. et al. Graphene oxide as a stationary phase for speciation of inorganic and organic species of mercury, arsenic and selenium using HPLC with ICP-MS detection. Microchim Acta 185, 425 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-018-2960-x

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