Running buffers for determination of chromium(VI)/(III), cobalt(II) and zinc(II) in complex matrices by capillary electrophoresis with contactless conductivity detection

Complex matrices and rather high acidity in environmental samples are often the impelling challenges for the used running buffers of capillary electrophoresis. Twelve binary acid–base buffers were evaluated for separation of Cr(VI)/Cr(III), Co2+ and Zn2+ in a sample containing various salts by capillary electrophoresis with contactless conductivity detector. The malic acid (MA) systems including MA–His (histidine), MA–Arg (arginine) and MA–Tris (tris(hydroxymethyl)aminomethane) were selected as the candidates with powerful separation efficiency and good response sensitivity. In the MA–Tris buffer, optimization were further carried out in terms of the pH value and the concentration of MA, and the optimal conditions were obtained as 6 mM MA–Tris and 2 mM 18-crown-6 at pH 3.5. Furthermore, a real application was demonstrated by analyzing the plating rinse water (pH 0.8), in which the Ca2+, Na+, Cr(VI)/Cr(III), Co2+ and Zn2+ were all detected by adjusting at pH 3.5 with 5% (v/v) diluent ammonia. Both the cations, e.g., K+, Ca2+, Na+, Mg2+, and the common high concentration anions in the sample, e.g., Cl−, SO42− and NO3− did not cause any disturbance to the concerned analytes.