Cr speciation in foodstuffs, biological and environmental samples: Methodological approaches and analytical challenges - A critical review

In studies of impact of Cr on the environment and living organisms, speciation analysis plays a crucial role. To obtain reliable data on Cr speciation it is important to preserve species integrity during all steps of the analytical procedure. It is also crucial that for each sample matrix an appropriate speciation technique is applied. Non-chromatographic techniques were frequently applied for speciation of Cr, but their use was not always appropriate for complex sample matrices. High performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) hyphenated to inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was proven to be the most sensitive and reliable analytical tool for Cr speciation analysis. In the present critical review special attention is focused on the significance of the use of adequate analytical methodologies for speciation of Cr in foodstuffs, biological and environmental samples. The analytical challenges and further needs of the development of Cr speciation techniques are also argued. (c) 2020 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).