Sensitive determination of iodine species, including organo-iodine, for freshwater and seawater samples using high performance liquid chromatography and spectrophotometric detection

摘要

In order to more effectively use iodine isotope ratos, ~(129)I/~(127)I, as hydrological and geochemical tracers in aquatic systems, a new high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method was developed for the determination of iodine speciation. The dissolved iodine species that dominate natural water systems are iodide, iodate, and organic iodine. Using this new method, iodide was determined directly by combining anion exchange chromatography and spectrophotmetry. Iodate and the total of organic iodine species are determined as iodide, with minimal sample preparation, compared to existing methods. The method has been applied to quantitatively determine iodide, iodate as the difference of total inorganic iodide and iodide after reduction of the sample by NaHSO_3, and organic iodine as the difference of total iodide (after organic decomposition by dehydrohalogenation and reduction by NaHSO_3) and total inorganic iodide. Analytical accuracy was tested: (1) against certified reference material, SRM 1549, powdered milk (NIST); (2) through the method of standard additions; and (3) by comparison to values of environmental waters measured independently by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS). The method has been successfully applied to measure the concentrations of iodide species in rain, surface and ground water, estuarine and seawater samples. The detection limit was approx 1 nM (0.2 ppb), with less than 3% relative standard deviation (R.S.D.) for samplets determined by standard additions to an iodide solution of 20 nM in 0.1 M NaCl. This technique is one of the few methods sensitive enough to accurately quantify stable iodine species at nanomolar concentrations in aquatic systems across a range of matrices,and to quantitatively measure organic iodine. Additionally,this method makes use of a very dilute mobile phase, and may be applied to small sample volumes without pre-column concentration or post-column reactions.