Determination of selenium in urine by isotope dilution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry using 4-nitro-o-phenylenediamine, 3,5-dibromo-o-phenylenediamine, and 4-trifluoromethyl-o-phenylenediamine as derivatizing reagents

Development and validation of a high-performance liquid chromatography method for the determination of diacetyl in beer using 4-nitro-o-phenylenediamine as the derivatization reagent

Diacetyl is a natural byproduct of fermentation and known to be an important flavor compound in many food products. Because of the potential undesirable effects of diacetyl on health safety and beer flavor, determination of its concentration in beer samples is essential and its analytical methods have attracted close attention recently. The aim of the present work is to develop and validate a novel high-performance liquid chromatography method for the quantification of diacetyl in beer based on the derivatization reaction of diacetyl with 4-nitro-o-phenylenediamine (NPDA). After the derivatization with NPDA in pH 3.0 at 45 °C for 20 min, diacetyl was separated on a kromasil C(18) column at room temperature in the form of the resulting 6-nitro-2,3-dimethylquinoxaline and detected by the ultraviolet detector at 257 nm. The results showed that the correlation coefficient for the method was 0.9992 in the range of 0.0050-10.0 mg L(-1) and the limit of detection was 0.0008 mg L(-1) at a signal-to-noise ratio of 3. The applicability of the proposed method was evaluated in the analysis of beer samples with the recovery range of 94.0-99.0% and relative standard deviation range of 1.20-3.10%. The concentration levels of diacetyl detected in beer samples from 12 brands ranged from 0.034 to 0.110 mg L(-1). The proposed method showed efficient chromatographic separation, excellent linearity, and good repeatability that can be applied to quantification of diacetyl in beer samples.

Determination of selenium stable isotopes by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry with negative chemical ionisation

A gas chromatography mass spectrometric method using negative chemical ionisation was developed for the determination of stable isotopes of selenium for evaluation of selenium absorption and retention from foods in humans. The method involves an acid digestion to convert all selenium into selenite, which subsequently reacts with 4-nitro-o-phenylene-diamine to form a volatile piazselenole. The piazselenole, after extraction into an organic solvent, was analysed for its isotopic selenium composition by gas chromatography mass spectrometry. Negative chemical ionisation is reported for the first time for the determination of selenium stable isotopes and its analytical characteristics were compared to those of electron impact mass spectrometric ionisation, classically used for the determination of selenium. The negative chemical ionisation technique allowed accurate determination of total selenium by isotope dilution and of selenium isotope ratios in biological samples. The repeatability for total selenium and for stable isotope ratios was good (R.S.D.< or =10%) within the range of 50 to 250 ng selenium. The detection limit for the investigated selenium isotopes was approximately 1 pg (signal to noise ratio at 3). The applicability of the developed stable isotope methodology was demonstrated by the determination of the selenium absorption and retention from foods in a pilot study using one human adult.

Mercury determination in blood by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry

A stable isotope dilution gas chromatography-mass spectrometry method using 196Hg as an internal standard is described for determining Hg in blood. In this method, the blood samples are not subjected to any digestion to avoid the loss of Hg. A solution of 0.6M HCl is used to free Hg present in blood from proteins. The pH of the solution is adjusted to 9 using borate buffer and Hg chelated using lithium bis(trifluoroethyl)dithiocarbamate. All isotope ratio measurements are made using an organic mass spectrometer. Overall precision values for the five major Hg isotopes relative to 202Hg are 1.6-2.3% when 10 ng samples of chelated Hg are analyzed. No appreciable memory or carryover effect is observed when two synthetic mixtures differing in 196Hg/202Hg ratios by a factor of 30 are sequentially analyzed. The method is validated by determining Hg in blood samples using isotope dilution GC-MS.

Mass spectrometry of trace elements in biological samples

Mass spectrometry is a powerful analytical tool for determining the isotope ratios and concentrations of trace elements in various samples at levels ranging from major constituents to subparts per billion. Because isotope dilution is free from matrix effects, it has the potential of being incorporated into a definitive analytical approach that can provide reference values for concentrations in physiological and pathological conditions. In addition, isotope dilution mass spectrometry results are free from the constraints of quantitative recovery of the analyte, an essential requirement in other analytical techniques that is difficult to achieve with complex biological samples. A variety of mass spectrometric approaches have been used for determining the concentration of trace elements in biological samples. The more commonly used are thermal ionization mass spectrometry, inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, fast atom bombardment mass spectrometry, and gas chromatography mass spectrometry. This article reviews the work on trace element determination in biological samples using different mass spectrometric techniques and highlights the experiments performed by the authors in establishing gas chromatography mass spectrometry.