ICP-MS analysis

Obtaining of data concerning the chemical composition of water is critical significance for monitoring water reservoirs and forecasting the quality of drinking water from different water supply sources. A dry residue is commonly used with the methods AAS, ICP-AES, ICP-MS (analysis of liquid) widely applied for determination of water composition. So it is vital to create a standard sample of the composition of dry residue of ultra-fresh Lake Baikal water, its development launched since 1992 at the Institute of Geochemistry SB RAS. 

SELECTION OF CONDITIONS OF SOIL MICROWAVE DECOMPOSITION FOR ICP-MS ANALYSIS... 

A 68 element ICP-MS scan was performed on one dried white-colored paint sample. The chemical elements scanned for during the ICP analysis and the detection limits are provided in Table 5. Approximately 0.5 g of each sample was prepared by an acid digestion technique prior to conducting the ICP-MS analysis. Shown in Table 6 are the quantified ICP-MS results for the sample. Elements scanned for but not detected are either not present in the sample or may be present below the detection limit. 

In this case study, 11 different extraction methods (Table 1) were applied to a 1000 m line of 15 B/C-horizon soil samples (<0.25 mm) across the Talbot VMS Cu-Zn deposit in northern Manitoba, Canada (Fig. 1), followed by ICP-MS analysis. Student s t test and minimum t probability statistics provide a tool to rank the exploration performance of each method (Stanley 2003 Stanley Noble 2008). By... 

Ward, N.I., Abou-Shakra, F.R. and Durrant, S.F. (1990). Trace element content of biological materials - a comparison of NAA and ICP-MS analysis. Biological Trace Element Research 26-7 177-187. 

Thornton, C.P., Lamberg-Karlovsky, C.C., Liezers, M. and Young, S.M.M. (2002). On pins and needles tracing the evolution of copper-base alloying at Tepe Yahya, Iran, via ICP-MS analysis of common-place items. Journal of Archaeological Science 29 1451-1460. 

The digestion of solid samples to produce a solution is discussed in Section 13.2. For solution-based ICP MS analysis, the liquid is taken up through a thin tube via a peristaltic pump. This feeds directly into the instrument nebulizer, where argon gas is introduced into the liquid and a fine mist of droplets is expelled from the tip of the nebulizer. This sample aerosol is sprayed into the condenser to reduce the size of the droplets, ensuring an even sample loading and preventing cooling of the plasma. About 1% of the sample solution uptake is transported to the plasma torch, and any unused solution is drained away and may be recycled. 

Figure 9.7 Sensitivity (ion counts per second/concentration in ppb) as a function of mass number in ICP-MS analysis. A semiquantitative analysis for elements not available as standards can be carried out by interpolating from such a graph.

As described in Section 13.3, using an instrument for a long period can result in variation in instrument calibration, or drift. This can be detected in solution analysis by the addition of a known amount of an internal standard to the sample solutions. This is impossible, however, for LA-ICP-MS analysis of a solid sample. One method of minimizing this is to simultaneously measure a... 

Cousin, H. and Magyar, B. (1994). Precision and accuracy of laser ablation-ICP-MS analysis of rare earth elements with external calibration. Mikrochimica Acta 113 313-323. 

Examples of calibration lines produced during ICP-MS analysis 205... 

Taylor PDF, Maeck R, De Bievre P (1992) Determination of the absolute isotopic composition and Atomic Weight of a reference sample of natural iron. Int J Mass Spectrom Ion Processes 121 111-125 Taylor PDF, Maeck R, Hendrickx F, De Bievre P (1993) The gravimetric preparation of synthetic mixtures of iron isotopes. Int J Mass Spectrom Ion Processes 128 91-97 Thirlwall MF (2002) Multicollector ICP-MS analysis of Pb isotopes using a Pb- Pb double spike demonstrates up to 4000 ppm/amu systematic errors in Tl-normalization. Chem Geol 184 255-279... 

A double spike technique is essential for TIMS analyses of Se and Cr, and may also be useful in MC-ICP-MS analysis. Briefly, two spike isotopes with a known ratio are added to each sample, and the measured ratio of the spike isotopes is used to determine and correct for instrumental bias. Examples of Se and Cr double spikes currently in use are given in Table 1. The fact that small amounts of the spike isotopes are present in the samples and small amormts of nominally unspiked isotopes are found in the spikes is not a problem, as the measurements allow highly precise mathematical separation of spike from samples. Algorithms for such calculations are described by Albarede and Beard (2004) and, specifically for Se, by Johnson etal. (1999). 

Fig. 1. Time-resolved spectrum for the LA-ICP-MS analysis of PGE in pyrrhotite. After 20s of gas blank the laser in turned on for 60s. Pyrrhotite contains only Os-Ru but a peak in the signal for Ir-Rh-Pt (Os) and As occurs where a PGM inclusion is encountered.

LA-ICP-MS was used for in situ determination of ultratrace elements in quartz. The analytical protocol included the following elements Al, Ba, Be, Cr, Ee, Ge, K, Li, Mg, Mn, Pb, Rb, Sr, Th, Ti and U . Apphcation of the LA technique to heterogeneous samples usually requires preparing a homogeneous glass by fusing with lithium borate . A difficulty encountered with multi-element LA-ICP-MS analysis is the absence of standards... 

The application of high-sensitivity ICP-MS detectors coupled to HPLC has enabled the detection of trace arsenic compounds present in marine animals. Thus, arsenocholine has been reported as a trace constituent (<0.1% of the total arsenic) in fish, molluscs, and crustaceans (37) and was found to be present in appreciable quantities (up to 15%) in some tissues of a marine turtle (110). Earlier reports (46,47) of appreciable concentrations of arsenocholine in some marine animals appear to have been in error (32). Phosphatidylarsenocholine 45 was identified as a trace constituent of lobster digestive gland following hydrolysis of the lipids and detection of GPAC in the hydrolysate by HPLC/ICP-MS analysis (70). It might result from the substitution of choline with arsenocholine in enzyme systems for the biogenesis of phosphatidylcholine (111). 

In addition to ICP-MS for the multi-element analysis of aqueous solutions, LA-ICP-MS allows the direct determination of trace elements in biological samples and due to this feature it is a well suited analytical technique for microlocal analysis with spatial resolution. In 1995, Outridge el al.lg reported on the performance of an LA-ICP-MS analysis for studying incremental biological structures as archives of trace element accumulation. The use of LA-ICP-MS for several biological (and environmental) applications is reviewed by Durrant and Ward.19 Selected examples for determination of trace elements and species in biological samples are summarized in Table 9.25. 

Samples were analyzed using both LA-ICP-MS and ICP-MS of solutions to assess the impact on the results of the sampling by laser ablation. For ICP-MS analysis, less than 1 mg of material was dissolved in double distilled nitric acid. SRMs BIO, B12, 51.13-4 and 71.32-4 were prepared the same way, to obtain... 

Trace elemental analysis of ancient ceramics has been proven a very useful tool for tracing the circulation of this material. Instrumental neutron activation analysis (INAA) was for years the analytical technique of choice to measure the composition of ceramics because of the large number of elements it could determine and its good sensitivity. Lately, a few publications have shown that laser ablation-inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) could provide similar results as INAA more quickly and at lower cost. A protocol has been developed to determine 51 elements using LA-ICP-MS and tested it on Wari period ceramics previously analyzed using INAA. We show how INAA and LA-ICP-MS analysis lead to the same conclusion in terms of sample groupings. 

Cu, internal standard for LA-ICP-MS analysis, copper alloy artifacts, 339... 

Most recent studies describing fluidic automation of TRU-Resin separations have been directed to ICP-MS analysis. Evans et al. used a FI system with a TRU-Resin column to concentrate U and Th from a variety of aqueous and biological standard reference materials.131 After the wash step with 2 M HNQ3, these analytes were... 

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