Elemental Speciation has become a challenging
part of analytical chemistry. The short-, medium-,
and long-term perspectives are far-reaching, and
it may be interesting to dwell upon the ways the
scientific community will continue its progress. It
is to be expected that a renewed legal framework
will come into effect, in which essentiality and
toxicity of the elemental species, instead of
total trace element concentration, becomes the
key issue.
During the past 20 to 30 years, elemental speciation
has grown into a full-fledged analytical
discipline. The technological and methodological
achievements in recent years have considerably
increased the possibilities of analytical chemistry.
Today, it is possible to determine numerous element
species accurately at concentration levels that
were inconceivable some 10 years ago.