This review focuses on the ion chromatographic methods for the analyses of natural waters with high ionic strength. At the beginning a natural diversity in ionic composition of waters is highlighted and terminology clarified. In continuation a brief overview of other review articles of potential interest is given. A review of ion chromatographic methods is organized in four sections. The first section comprises articles focused on the determination of ionic composition of water samples as completely as possible. The sections-Selected Anions, Selected Cations and Metals-follow. The most essential experimental conditions used in different methods are summarized in tables for a rapid comparison. Techniques encountered in the reviewed articles comprise: direct determinations of ions in untreated samples with ion-or ion-exclusion chromatography, or electrostatic ion chromatography; matrix elimination with column-switching; pre-concentration with a chelation ion chromatography and purge-and-trap pre-concentration. Different detection methods were used: non-suppressed conductometric or suppressed conductometric, direct spectrometric or spectrometric after a post-column derivetization, and inductively coupled plasma in combination with optical emission or mass spectrometry.Keywords: ion chromatography; sea water; brine; mineral water; anions; cations; metals
Natural Diversity of WatersWe restrict the scope of this review and choose to focus on natural waters with high ionic strength in which concentrations of ions extend over several orders of magnitude and therefore these waters present a special challenge for ion chromatographic (IC) analysis, especially if major and minor ions OPEN ACCESS