Quantification and speciation of copper in plant tissues by Size-Exclusion Chromatography coupled with ICP-MS detection

Copper is an essential plant micronutrient involved in numerous biochemical functions. However, copper can be toxic and causes pollution into agrosoils. There is increasing evidence that the identification, characterization and determination of the metal species, i.e. the speciation, represents a more suitable approach to investigate metals ecotoxicity, included that from copper. Here the negative impact of copper treatments against phytopathogenc bacteria was evaluated. The quantitation and speciation of copper was perfomred on Nicotiana tabacum, Actinidia deliciosa and Olea europaea, used as a model and treated with copper solutions at various concentrations.