Quantitative analysis using laser ablation

Raith, A., and Hutton, R. C. (1994). Quantitation methods using laser ablation ICP-MS. Part 1 Analysis of powders. Fresenius J. Anal. Chem. 350(4/5), 242. 

Quantitative analysis MS is used extensively for the quantitative determination of the organic components of liquid and gas samples. Solid samples can be analyzed using laser ablation. 

Perkins, W.T., Fuge, R., and Pearce, N.J. G. (1991). Quantitative analysis of trace elements in carbonates using laser ablation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry.J. Anal. At. Spectrom. 6(6), 445. 

Hoffmann, E., Ludke, C., Skole, J., Stephanowitz, H., and Wagner, G. (1999) Studies on the quantitative analysis of trace elements in single SiC crystals using laser ablation-ICR-MS. J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 14, 1679-84. 

Laser ablation ICP-MS (LA-ICP-MS) was established in the early 1990s as a potential routine tool for the measurement of trace and ultra-trace elements in silicate systems for geology. Early studies (Perkins et al. 1993) used sample preparation techniques identical to that used to prepare rock samples for WDXRF, i.e., either a pressed powder disk or a glass bead fusion method (see Appendix VIII). Such studies concluded that LA-ICP-MS had the potential to surpass XRF in terms of the limits of detection achieved and INAA in terms of the speed of analysis (Perkins et al. 1993 481). It has long been recognized that the main limit on the quantitative performance of LA-ICP-MS is the homogeneity at the trace and ultra-trace level of the solid calibration standards available. Subsequent work (e.g., Hollecher and Ruiz 1995, Norman et al. 1996) has demonstrated that some of the international... 

In inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, isobaric interference occurs between species with the same mass and charge. Interference can be eliminated if the mass spectral resolution is sufficiently great or by dissociating an interfering polyatomic species with a collision cell. When laser ablation is used to sample a solid, matrix-matched standards are often necessary for quantitative analysis. 

In the application of atomic emission spectroscopy for quantitative analysis, samples must be prepared in liquid form of a suitable solvent unless it is already presented in that form. The exceptions are solids where samples can be analysed as received using rapid heating electro-thermal excitation sources, such as graphite furnace heating or laser ablation methods. Aqueous samples, e.g. domestic water, boiler water, natural spring, wines, beers and urines, can be analysed for toxic and non-toxic metals as received with... 

By using microarray technology, protein quantitative detection on one spot microarray is usually not possible. However, recently analysis of a microarray through laser ablation (LA)-inductively coupled plasma (ICP)-MS has been introduced, increasing the feasibility of protein detection (40). 

Not only is there a need for the characterization of raw bulk materials but also the requirement for process controled industrial production introduced new demands. This was particularly the case in the metals industry, where production of steel became dependent on the speed with which the composition of the molten steel during converter processes could be controlled. After World War 11 this task was efficiently dealt with by atomic spectrometry, where the development and knowledge gained about suitable electrical discharges for this task fostered the growth of atomic spectrometry. Indeed, arcs and sparks were soon shown to be of use for analyte ablation and excitation of solid materials. The arc thus became a standard tool for the semi-quantitative analysis of powdered samples whereas spark emission spectrometry became a decisive technique for the direct analysis of metal samples. Other reduced pressure discharges, as known from atomic physics, had been shown to be powerful radiation sources and the same developments could be observed as reliable laser sources become available. Both were found to offer special advantages particularly for materials characterization. 

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