Elemental speciation: where do we come from? where do we go?

The present day status of elemental speciation is largely based on the use of hyphenated techniques in particular in the combination of various types of chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. The present status of environmental speciation with the hyphenated techniques is reviewed. There is a growing need for more comprehensive approaches including the direct analysis of solid samples especially for the elemental speciation of heterogeneous materials with microscopic methods of analysis. Methods for solid-state speciation analysis with several types of beam methods of analysis are critically discussed and are illustrated with two examples of our laboratory experience.