Determination of trace elements in seawater by fluorinated metal alkoxide glass-immobilized 8-hydroxyquinoline concentration and high-resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry detection

8-hydroxyquinoline immobilized on fluorinated metal alkoxide glass (MAF-8HQ) was prepared under metal-free conditions and used for the separation of trace elements from seawater matrix. Trace elements in 250 ml of seawater were collected with a MAF-8HQ column (bed volume, 0.85 ml; total exchange capacity, 5.2 mg for Cu (II)), eluted with 25 ml of 0.5 M nitric acid and determined by the high-resolution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (HR-ICP-MS). This procedure allowed the determination of V, Co, Ni, Ga, Y, Mo, Cd, Ce, Pr, Nd, Sm, Eu, Gd, Tb, Dy, Ho, Er, Tm, Yb, Lu, W and U, of which the concentrations ranged over six orders (10 μg–0.01 ng l−1). The precision was less than 10%. The detection limit of most elements depended not on the performance of HR-ICP-MS but on the level of contamination.