Analysis of cationic nutrients from foods by ion chromatography

This paper describes the feasibility of combining two relatively new technologies to generate data on the cationic nutrient content of foods. Single-column ion chromatography was used to monitor several analytes following the use of a microwave digestion scheme aimed at rapid, multiple sample digestion. The result is a more streamline and productive approach to multi-sample preparation and multi-analyte determination when investigating the cation content of foods. Linearity and limits of detection for the chromatographic procedure were established. Sample size as well as digestion acid type and amount were investigated during the microwave process. The method was applied to a variety of food matrices to evaluate its scope. Results generated with this method compare favorably to those from atomic absorption. Finally, capillary ion electrophoresis (Waters' trade name: Capillary Ion Analysis), a subset of capillary electrophoresis which has been optimized for ion analysis, was applied to the sample digests to investigate the usefulness of this technology to the analysis of mono-/divalent cations from foods.