The International Union for Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) has published guidelines or recommendations for the definition of speciation analysis:
Speciation analysis is the analytical activity of identifying and/or measuring the quantities of one or more individual chemical species in a sample.
The chemical species are specific forms of an element defined as to isotopic composition, electronic or oxidation state, and/or complex or molecular structure.
The speciation of an element is the distribution of an element amongst defined chemical species in a system.
In case that it is not possible to determine the concentration of the different individual chemical species that sum up the total concentration of an element in a given matrix, that means it is impossible to determine the speciation, it is a useful practice to do fractionation instead.
Fractionation is the process of classification of an analyte or a group of analytes from a certain sample according to physical (e.g. size, solubility) or chemical (e.g. bonding, reactivity) properties.
Comment:
Many authors talk about trace element
speciation when they actually only present methods and results for
fractionation such as sequential leaching. On the other hand, some
authors present data on trace element speciation, but never use the term
"speciation". This is for example frequently happening for publications
in the field of isotopes.
Further reading:
Douglas M. Templeton, Hitomi Fujishiro, Terminology of elemental speciation – An IUPAC perspective, Coord. Chem. Rev., 352 (2017) 424-431. DOI: 10.1016/j.ccr.2017.02.002
Gaetane Lespes, Tea Zuliani, Dirk Schaumlöffel, Need for revisiting the terminology about speciation, Environ. Sci. Pollut. Res., 23 (2016) 15767-70. DOI: 10.1007/s11356-016-6922-8
D.M. Templeton, F. Ariese, R. Cornelis, L.-G. Danielsson, H. Muntau, H.P. van Leeuwen, R. Lobinski, IUPAC Guidelines for Terms Related to Speciation of Trace Elements, Pure Appl. Chem., 72/8 (2000) 1453-1470. DOI: 10.1351/pac200072081453
Related EVISA Resources: Brief summaries
About Speciation
Why should elemental speciation be done ?
Why is elemental speciation analysis not done routinely ?
Speciation analysis as a tool to enhance the quality of life
Speciation and Toxicity
Research fields related to elemental speciation
Chemical speciation analysis for the life sciences
Chemical speciation analysis for nutrition and food science
Trace element speciation analysis for environmental sciences
Speciation analysis for the study of metallodrugs and their biomolecular interactions
The Role of speciation analysis in material science
Speciation Analysis - Striving for Quality
Problems to be solved in the field of speciation analysis
Error sources in speciation analysis - Overview
Sample preservation for speciation analysis - General recommendations
Species transformation during speciation analysis
Certified Reference Materials for Chemical Speciation Analysis
Standard methods for elemental speciation analysis
Tools for elemental speciation analysis
ICP-MS - A versatile detection system for speciation analysis
LC-ICP-MS - The most often used hyphenated system for speciation analysis
GC-ICP-MS
CE-ICP-MS for speciation analysis
ESI-MS: The tool for the identification of species
Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry as a Detection System for Speciation Analysis
Fractionation as a first step towards speciation analysis
Flow-injection inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for speciation analysis
Gel electrophoresis combined with laser ablation ICP-MS for speciation analysis
Non-chromatographic separation techniques for speciation analysis
Liquid-liquid extraction in speciation analysis
Solid-phase extraction in speciation analysis
Mercury 'speciation analysis' by using thermal desorption analysis
Multielement speciation analysis
Chemical speciation modelling
Isotope dilution analysis using ICP-MS detection for trace element speciation
Chemical vapor generation as a sample introduction technique for speciation analysis
Nanoparticles - a target for speciation analysis
Isotopic measurements and speciation analysis
last time modified: December 14, 2023
