[Determination of cations in wines and beverages based on capillary ion chromatography]

A new method for the determination of five cations (sodium, ammonium, potassium, magnesium and calcium) in wines and beverages was developed and validated based on capillary ion chromatography. With a capillary ion exchange column (IonPac CS12A, 250 mm x 0.4 mm, 8 microm) and 18 mmol/L methanesulfonic acid (MSA) elution, the five cations can be well separated in 15 min. After suppression with a capillary suppressor (CCES 300), the background was much decreased, and the sensitivities of the cations were greatly improved. For the milky tea, acetonitrile was added into the sample solution to deposit the proteins. With the pretreatment of an OnGuard RP cartridge to remove hydrophobic substances in the sample, the developed method can be applied to the determination of the cations in wines and beverages. The calibration curves of peak area versus concentration gave correlation coefficients more than 0.9997 for these cations. Average recoveries were between 95.2% - 103.3%. The method is suitable for the determination of alkali metals and alkaline-earth metals in wines and beverages. The capillary ion chromatography provides analysis with less solvent consumption and better column efficiency, also possesses the advantages of high sensitivity, good selectivity and environmental friendly.