Simultaneous Determination of Organic Acids,Methanesulfonic Acid and Inorganic Anions in Aerosol and Precipitation Samples by Ion Chromatography

Organic acid anions(acetate,formate and oxalate)and methanesulphonate(MSA,a marker of marine biogenic sulphur emissions),and inorganic anions(fluoride,chloride,nitrite,nitrate,sulfate and phosphate)can be satisfactorily separated and simultaneously determined by gradient ion chromatography(IC)within about14min.The average resolution was found to be7.260with a linear correlation coefficients in the range of0.9983～0.9998.The relative standard deviations(RSD)were below5%.Detection limits(S/N=3)for most anions were below1×10 -8 (w).Quantitative recoveries of spiked samples ranged from80%～120%.The sample exˉtraction conditions from various filters and IC separation conditions have been developed and optimized.This new method has been applied effectively to the determination of these anions in actual aerosol and rain samples in China.