Dear Colleagues,

Many reports are available in the literature on the analysis of the total concentrations of elements, but the obtained data is insufficient to assess their toxicological properties that are strictly dependent on different element species defined as to their isotopic composition, electronic or oxidation state, and/or complex or molecular structure. Therefore, to predict the exact toxicity of an element, the determination of element species concentrations is required and essential. Therefore, the separation and identification of chemical species of elements is extremely important and demanding in this developing world, as it is an issue of great importance in many areas such as environmental chemistry, food and nutrition, biology, and medicine.

This Special Issue deals with developing new analytical procedures/methodologies dedicated to the separation and detection or identification of (i) toxic element species (bespoke methods for determination of target elemental analytes) and (ii) new chemical species (non-targeted screening methods for identification purposes), using hyphenated advanced analytical techniques combined with various sample preparation methods in wide spectrum of liquid and solid matrices (environmental, biological, clinical, food). Special emphasis will be put on (i) sample preparation and stability of chemical species; (ii) the development of new procedures dedicated to speciation analysis of various elements in different objects; and (iii) obtaining reliable measurement results by carrying out method validation, traceability assessment, and uncertainty estimation.

This Special Issue will provide the opportunity to share knowledge about speciation analysis, which is essential for scientists from various disciplines and regulatory authorities.

Prof. Dr. Danuta Barałkiewicz
Dr. Izabela Komorowicz
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

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Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 1800 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

• Elemental and multielemental  speciation;
• Sample preparation;
• Separation techniques;
• Mass spectrometry;
• Hyphenated techniques;
• New analytical procedures;
• Toxic species in environmental, food, biological, and clinical samples;
• Quality control, quality assurance.