Book excerpt: The aim of this volume is to describe the most recent advances in areas of analytical chemistry that relate to the trace determination of metals and inorganics, as well as their distribution and forms (species) present, sample dependent. Analytical approaches are described that encompass a number of separation methods, such as gas and high performance liquid chromatography, interfaced with selective and sensitive detection methods that become unique for metal species/forms present in various samples. Hyphenated techniques are emphasized, such as interfacing HPLC with plasma induced emission spectroscopy, electrochemistry, post-column reaction chemistry, etc. Each chapter describes the latest instrumental and methodology advances that utilize some form of chromatography together with element-specific detection or mass spectrometry to provide absolute identification of the specific species of a metal present in various samples. The book will be of value to those concerned with the determination of trace levels of individual metal species present or suspected present in any given sample and to those involved in trace metal toxicology, metabolism of metal-containing drugs or chemicals, environmental exposures to metals and chemical speciation of real world samples. Government regulatory laboratories striving to detect and determine absolute levels of a metal species in any regulated sample will be interested in this volume, as will academic institutes involved in environmental toxicology, environmental chemistry, metal-DNA/protein interactions and researchers working with metal species.