Analytical Chemistry for Health and Environment

Fungi accumulate trace elements from the soil, with each species preferring different trace elements. Some of these elements are essential for the human organism, others are potentially harmful. Our research focuses on the binding forms of these elements and their toxicological assessment. The elements arsenic, selenium, vanadium, mercury and selenium are in the foreground.

We primarily absorb trace elements through our food. However, in addition to the essential trace elements, some potentially toxic elements also enter our bodies. We are investigating the binding form of these trace elements.

In pharmaceutical formulations, additional signals often occur in the chromatograms due to storage. The isolation and characterization of these species is an analytical-chemical challenge and of great importance for drug safety.

The determination of non-metal compounds of the elements phosphorus, sulphur and chlorine poses a challenge with ICPMS in the trace range. ICPMS/MS has significantly improved the detection limits by using suitable reaction gases. We are researching the coupling of HPLC to ICPMS/MS as a robust element-selective detector for various issues.

Fine dust continues to pose a major threat to human health. The composition of ultrafine particulate matter (less than 1 µm) plays an important role due to its respirable properties. We are dedicated to the isolation and characterization of components in ultrafine particulate matter.