Gas chromatography/plasma spectrometry—an important analytical tool for elemental speciation studies

In this review, a full discussion and update of the state-of-the-art of gas chromatography (GC) coupled to all known plasma spectrometers is presented. A brief introductive discussion of the advantages and disadvantages of GC–plasma interfaces, as well as types of plasmas and mass spectrometers, is given. The plasma-based techniques covered include inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) microwave-induced plasma optical emission spectrometry (MIP-OES), and inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES). Also, different variants of plasma sources, such as low power plasmas and glow discharge (GD) sources, are described and compared with respect to their capabilities in elemental speciation. Recent advances and alternative mass analyzers (collision/reaction cell; time-of-flight; double-focusing sector field) are also mentioned. Different aspects of the GC–plasma coupling are discussed with particular attention to the applications of these hyphenated techniques to the analysis of elemental species. Additionally, classical and modern sample preparation methods, including extraction and/or preconcentration and derivatization reactions, are presented and evaluated.