Determination of total and water soluble iodine in soil by high performance liquid chromatography

Abstract A high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) method for the determination of the amount of iodine was developed and applied to soils. After alkali fusion of a soil sample, the iodine in the form of iodide isolated from coexisting ions was separated on a C18-bonded phase column with acetonitrile-water containing tetrabutylammonium ion as a mobile phase, and the amount of iodine was determined spectrophotometrically at 230 nm. By this method, it was possible to determine the total amount of iodine reaching more than about 1 mg kg−1 in soils. In addition, a method for quantitative speciation of water soluble iodine in soil was also studied by using the HPLC method proposed. Iodine in the water extract of soils was divided into iodide (I¯), iodate (IO3 −), and organically-bound iodine, and the predominant chemical form of iodine in the extract was iodide ion.