Determination of selenium urinary metabolites by high temperature liquid chromatography-inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.

The coupling of high temperature liquid chromatography (HTLC) and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICPMS) for the determination of selenium metabolites in urine samples is reported for the first time. In order to achieve "ICPMS-friendly" chromatographic conditions, the retention on a graphite stationary phase of the major selenium urinary metabolites using only plain water with 2% methanol as the mobile phase was investigated. Under the optimal conditions (T=80°C, Ql=1.2 mL min(-1)), methyl 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-1-seleno-ß-d-galactopyranoside (selenosugar 1), methyl 2-acetamido-2-deoxy-1-seleno-ß-d-glucosopyranoside (selenosugar 2) and trimethylselenonium ion were efficiently separated in less than 7 min, without any interferences due to other common selenium species (selenite, selenate, selenocystine and selenomethionine) or detectable effect of the urine matrix. The limits of detection were 0.3-0.5 ng Se mL(-1), and the precision of the analytical procedure was better than 3% (RSD%, n=5). The HTLC-ICPMS method was applied to the analysis of urine samples from two volunteers before and after ingestion of Brazil nuts or selenium supplements. The developed procedure proved to be adequate for the analytical task, providing results consistent with previous studies.

Major and trace element partitioning between dissolved and particulate phases in Antarctic surface snow.

In order to provide a new insight into the Antarctic snow chemistry, partitioning of major and trace elements between dissolved and particulate (i.e. insoluble particles, >0.45 µm) phases have been investigated in a number of coastal and inland snow samples, along with their total and acid-dissolvable (0.5% nitric acid) concentrations. Alkaline and alkaline-earth elements (Na, K, Ca, Mg, Sr) were mainly present in the dissolved phase, while Fe and Al were predominantly associated with the particulate matter, without any significant difference between inland and coastal samples. On the other hand, partitioning of trace elements depended on the sampling site position, showing a general decrease of the particulate fraction by moving from the coast to the plateau. Cd, Cu, Pb and Zn were for the most part in the dissolved phase, while Cr was mainly associated with the particulate fraction. Co, Mn and V were equally distributed between dissolved and particulate phases in the samples collected from the plateau and preferentially associated with the particulate in the coastal samples. The correlation between the elements and the inter-sample variability of their concentration significantly decreased for the plateau samples compared to the coastal ones, according to a change in the relative contribution of the metal sources and in good agreement with the estimated marine and crustal enrichment factors. In addition, samples from the plateau were characterised by higher enrichment factors of anthropogenic elements (Cd, Cr, Cu, Pb and Zn), compared to the coastal area. Finally, it was observed that the acid-dissolvable metal concentrations were generally lower than the total concentration values, showing that the acid treatment can dissolve only a given fraction of the metal associated with the particulate (<20% for iron and aluminium).