Impurities spectrometry

Wilson, R.G., Stevie, F.A., and Magee, C.W., Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry A Practical Handbook for Depth Profiling and Bulk Impurity Analysis, Wiley, Chichester, U.K., 1989. 

The conventional method for quantitative analysis of galHum in aqueous media is atomic absorption spectroscopy (qv). High purity metallic galHum is characteri2ed by trace impurity analysis using spark source (15) or glow discharge mass spectrometry (qv) (16). 

Inductively coupled plasma (icp) emission, direct current plasma (dcp), and inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (icp/ms) have taken over as the methods of choice for the simultaneous detection of metallic impurities in hafnium and hafnium compounds (29,30). 

MetaUic impurities in beryUium metal were formerly determined by d-c arc emission spectrography, foUowing dissolution of the sample in sulfuric acid and calcination to the oxide (16) and this technique is stUl used to determine less common trace elements in nuclear-grade beryUium. However, the common metallic impurities are more conveniently and accurately determined by d-c plasma emission spectrometry, foUowing dissolution of the sample in a hydrochloric—nitric—hydrofluoric acid mixture. Thermal neutron activation analysis has been used to complement d-c plasma and d-c arc emission spectrometry in the analysis of nuclear-grade beryUium. 

Impurities in hydrocarbons can be characterised and evaluated by gas chromatography and mass spectrometry. The total amount of impurities present can be estimated from the thermometric freezing curve. 

In Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS), a solid specimen, placed in a vacuum, is bombarded with a narrow beam of ions, called primary ions, that are suffi-ciendy energedc to cause ejection (sputtering) of atoms and small clusters of atoms from the bombarded region. Some of the atoms and atomic clusters are ejected as ions, called secondary ions. The secondary ions are subsequently accelerated into a mass spectrometer, where they are separated according to their mass-to-charge ratio and counted. The relative quantities of the measured secondary ions are converted to concentrations, by comparison with standards, to reveal the composition and trace impurity content of the specimen as a function of sputtering dme (depth). 

Dynamic SIMS is used to measure elemental impurities in a wide variety of materials, but is almost new used to provide chemical bonding and molecular information because of the destructive nature of the technique. Molecular identihcation or measurement of the chemical bonds present in the sample is better performed using analytical techniques, such as X-Ray Photoelectron Spectrometry (XPS), Infrared (IR) Spectroscopy, or Static SIMS. 

Mass spectrometry can be used for gas analysis, for the analysis of petroleum products, and in examining semiconductors for impurities. It is also a very useful tool for establishing the structure of organic compounds. 

H. Kramer, S. Semel J.E. Abel, Trace Elemental Survey Analysis of Trinitrotoluene , PATR 4767 (1975) (An evaluation of the applicability of spark source mass spectrometry and thermal neutron activation for the detn of origin-related trace elemental impurities in TNT) 10) C. Ribando J. Haber-man, Origin-Identification of Explosives Via Their Composite Impurity Profiles I. The... 

Richter S, Goldberg SA, Mason PB, Traina AJ, Schwieters JB (2001) Linearity tests for secondary electron multipliers used in isotope ratio mass spectrometry. Inti J Mass Spectrom 206 105-127 Rihs S, Condomines M, Sigmarsson O (2000) U, Ra, and Ba incorporation dining precipitation of hydrothermal carbonates imphcations for Ra-Ba dating of impure travertines. Geochim Cosmochim Acta 64 661-671... 

These authors produced TEM samples of Bi-doped, Sb-doped and Ag-doped copper foils, thinned to electron transparency using conventional preparation procedures. In all cases the presence of impurity segregation was confirmed using conventional X-ray energy-dispersive spectrometry. The EELS measurements were carried out with a STEM operating at 100 keV, with a nominal probe size of 1 nm (full width at half maximum) with a current of about 0.5 nA. The conditions required to optimize detection sensitivity for interface analysis require the highest current density and are not consistent with achieving the smallest probes. 

Experimental considerations Sample preparation and data evaluation are similar to membrane osmometry. Since there is no lower cut-off as in membrane osmometry, the method is very sensitive to low molar mass impurities like residual solvent and monomers. As a consequence, the method is more suitable for oligomers and short polymers with molar masses up to (M)n 50kg/mol. Today, vapour pressure osmometry faces strong competition from mass spectrometry techniques such as matrix-assisted laser desorption ionisation mass spectrometry (MALDI-MS) [20,21]. Nevertheless, vapour pressure osmometry still has advantages in cases where fragmentation issues or molar mass-dependent desorption and ionization probabilities come into play. 

The question was whether impurities were present in the samples analysed (Bada et al., 1983). In a more recent publication, Cronin and Pizzarello (1997) reported amino acid analyses using Murchison material in which an excess of L-enantiomers was present. Contamination with terrestrial biological material can be ruled out, as the amino acids in question are not proteinogenic a-methylamino acids, which occur either extremely seldom or not at all in terrestrial life forms, were detected. GLPC/mass spectrometry (MS) analysis gave the following enantiomeric excess (ee) values ... 

For confirmatory assay, liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) is becoming more frequently used in the analysis of OTC owing to its high sensitivity and ability. Electrospray ionization (ESI) [55-57] and atmospheric pressure chemical ionization (APCI) [41] methods combined with tandem mass spectrometry are favored because of their higher sensitivity and better reproducibility. Hamscher et al. [58] developed a method for the determination of persistent TC residues in soil fertilized with manure by HPLC tandem mass spectrometry, MS-MS, and confirmation by MS-MS-MS. Zhu et al. [59] developed an LC-tandem mass spectrometry for the analysis of common tetracyclines in water. The detection limit for oxytetracycline was 0.21 pg/L. Lykkeberg et al. [60] used LC-MS/MS for determination of oxytetracycline and its impurities EOTC, TC, ETC, ADOTC, oc-AOTC, and /i-AOTC. 

For example, the industrial preparation of mineral acids, such as sulfuric, hydrochloric and nitric, inevitably leads to them containing small concentrations of metals as impurities. If the acid is to be used purely as an acid in a simple reaction, the presence of small amounts of metals is probably unimportant. If, however, the acid is to be used to digest a sample for the determination of trace metals by atomic absorption spectrometry, then clearly the presence of metallic impurities in the acid may have a significant effect on the results. For this latter application, high-purity acids that are essentially metal-free are required. 

Identification and structural analysis of organic compounds. Determination of trace impurities in a wide range of inorganic materials (spark source mass spectrometry). 

One trial formulation, stored at 60° for 7 months showed degradation.74 xhe one impurity that was isolated and identified (with the aid of mass spectrometry) is dihydrotriamcinolone acetonide (Figure 1), an intermediate in the synthesis of halcinonide. This compound also possesses topical antiinflammatory activity.69... 

A number of minor components present in commercial neomycin have been separated by column chromatography on a carboxylic cation-exchange resin, Amberlite CG-50 99. The components were eluted from the resin with ammonium hydroxide solution. T.L.C. of the eluent fractions showed the presence of two previously unreported impurities which were then isolated on Dowex 1X2 and tentatively identified using NMR and mass spectrometry. 

Modern spectroscopy plays an important role in pharmaceutical analysis. Historically, spectroscopic techniques such as infrared (IR), nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), and mass spectrometry (MS) were used primarily for characterization of drug substances and structure elucidation of synthetic impurities and degradation products. Because of the limitation in specificity (spectral and chemical interference) and sensitivity, spectroscopy alone has assumed a much less important role than chromatographic techniques in quantitative analytical applications. However, spectroscopy offers the significant advantages of simple sample preparation and expeditious operation. 

---