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Determination of chloride, sulfate and nitrate in drinking water by microchip electrophoresis

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Abstract

We report on a method for simultaneous determination of chloride, sulfate and nitrate in drinking water by microchip electrophoresis. By adjusting a pH value of 4.2 in the aspartate background electrolyte, and by applying separation mechanisms via the ionic strength effect (bis-tris propane) and association equilibria (N-dodecyl-N,N-dimethyl-3-ammonio-1-propanesulfonate), a complete resolution of analytes from other co-migrating constituents is accomplished. In addition, isotachophoretic preconcentration of nitrate was implemented directly on the microchip. The ions were detected via conductivity measurements after injecting 900-nL samples. The limits of detection range from 40 to 120 μg L-1. The method displays a high reproducibility of the migration velocities under suppressed hydrodynamic and electroosmotic flow and therefore allows for a precise quantitation of analytes. The total analysis time is <450 s, and the working range is up to 60 mg L-1 for chloride and sulfate, and of up to 20 mg L-1 for nitrate. Filtration and degassing are the only sample treatment steps prior to analysis. The use of an internal standard enabled an easy chip-to-chip transfer of the method.

Determination of Chloride, Sulfate and Nitrate in Water by Microchip Electrophoresis

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from the Slovak Grant Agency for Science (the project VEGA 1/0672/09), Slovak Research and Development Agency (the project VVCE 0070/07) and Comenius University (projects No. UK/37/2011 and UK/47/2011. Dedicated to the memory of Professor Dušan Kaniansky.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Analytical Chemistry, Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava, Mlynská Dolina CH-2, SK-84215, Bratislava, Slovak Republic

    Marián Masár, Róbert Bodor, Michal Horčičiak, Ladislav Danč & Peter Troška

  2. Department of Chemistry, University of Basel, Spitalstrasse 51, 4056, Basel, Switzerland

    Benjamin Bomastyk

  3. Faculty of Chemistry, Instrumental Analytical Chemistry, University of Duisburg-Essen, Universitätsstrasse 5, 45141, Essen, Germany

    Heinz-Martin Kuss

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  1. Marián Masár
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  2. Benjamin Bomastyk
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  3. Róbert Bodor
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  4. Michal Horčičiak
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  5. Ladislav Danč
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  6. Peter Troška
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  7. Heinz-Martin Kuss
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Correspondence to Marián Masár.

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Masár, M., Bomastyk, B., Bodor, R. et al. Determination of chloride, sulfate and nitrate in drinking water by microchip electrophoresis. Microchim Acta 177, 309–316 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-012-0788-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00604-012-0788-3

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