Determination of total lead and lead isotope ratios in natural waters by inductively coupled plasma time-of-flight mass spectrometry after flow injection on-line preconcentration

An overview of automated flow systems for total and isotopic analysis of strontium and yttrium in samples of environmental interest

Due to the different uses of radioactivity during the last decades, there has been an increase in the concentration of natural and artificial radionuclides in the environment. This, along with some accidents with a high affect public opinion (for example, Chernobyl and Fukushima), have led to the growth and establishment of environmental radioactivity monitoring programs. Currently, trends in legislation and research are focused on the development of accurate, precise, reliable and fast analytical methods with low limits of detection (LOD) for radionuclides determination, such as strontium and yttrium, in environmental samples. In this paper, two comprehensive reviews and four automated analytical systems for total and isotopic determination of yttrium and strontium are presented. The developed methods have been applied in the analysis of environmental samples with low concentrations of these analytes. These methodologies have been automated by exploiting flow analysis techniques, such as multi-syringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA), Sequential injection analysis (SIA) and laboratory-on-valve (LOV) systems, achieving a minimal handling and low consumption of samples and reagents, a significant reduction in waste generation and a high frequency of analysis. In the developed methodologies, some spectrometric methods such as ICP-OES and ICP-MS have been implemented as detection techniques instead of radiometric detectors obtaining a fully automated, low-cost and fast yttrium and strontium determinations.

Analytical Methodologies for Agrometallomics: A Critical Review

Agrometallomics, as an independent interdiscipline, is first defined and described in this review. Metallic elements widely exist in agricultural plants, animals and edible fungi, seed, fertilizer, pesticide, feedstuff, as well as the agricultural environment and ecology, and even functional and pathogenic microorganisms. So, the agrometallome plays a vital role in molecular and organismic mechanisms like environmetallomics, metabolomics, proteomics, lipidomics, glycomics, immunomics, genomics, etc. To further reveal the inner and mutual mechanism of the agrometallome, comprehensive and systematic methodologies for the analysis of beneficial and toxic metals are indispensable to investigate elemental existence, concentration, distribution, speciation, and forms in agricultural lives and media. Based on agrometallomics, this review summarizes and discusses the advanced technical progress and future perspectives of metallic analytical approaches, which are categorized into ultrasensitive and high-throughput analysis, elemental speciation and state analysis, and spatial- and microanalysis. Furthermore, the progress of agrometallomic innovativeness greatly depends on the innovative development of modern metallic analysis approaches including, but not limited to, high sensitivity, elemental coverage, and anti-interference; high-resolution isotopic analysis; solid sampling and nondestructive analysis; metal chemical species and metal forms, associated molecular clusters, and macromolecular complexes analysis; and metal-related particles or metal within the microsize and even single cell or subcellular analysis.

Automated method for simultaneous lead and strontium isotopic analysis applied to rainwater samples and airborne particulate filters (PM10)

A new automated, sensitive, and fast system for the simultaneous online isolation and preconcentration of lead and strontium by sorption on a microcolumn packed with Sr-resin using an inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) detector was developed, hyphenating lab-on-valve (LOV) and multisyringe flow injection analysis (MSFIA). Pb and Sr are directly retained on the sorbent column and eluted with a solution of 0.05 mol L(-1) ammonium oxalate. The detection limits achieved were 0.04 ng for lead and 0.03 ng for strontium. Mass calibration curves were used since the proposed system allows the use of different sample volumes for preconcentration. Mass linear working ranges were between 0.13 and 50 ng and 0.1 and 50 ng for lead and strontium, respectively. The repeatability of the method, expressed as RSD, was 2.1% and 2.7% for Pb and Sr, respectively. Environmental samples such as rainwater and airborne particulate (PM10) filters as well as a certified reference material SLRS-4 (river water) were satisfactorily analyzed obtaining recoveries between 90 and 110% for both elements. The main features of the LOV-MSFIA-ICP-MS system proposed are the capability to renew solid phase extraction at will in a fully automated way, the remarkable stability of the column which can be reused up to 160 times, and the potential to perform isotopic analysis.

Trace lead measurement and online removal of matrix interference in geosamples by ion-exchange coupled with flow injection and hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry

A flow injection method has been developed for the direct determination of free available Pb(II). The method is based on the chemical sorption of Pb(II), from pH7 solutions, on a column packed of chelating resin. The retained complex was afterwards eluted with hydrochloric acid followed by hydride generation with reduction by tetrahydroborate. The preconcentration system proposed in this paper allows the elimination of great part of the saline content in the sample. A thorough scrutiny was made for chemical variables and FI parameters. With a sampling volume of 10.5 mL, quantitative retention of Pb (II) was obtained, along with an enrichment factor of 40 and a sampling frequency of 15 h(-1). The detection limit, defined as 3 times the blank standard deviation (3sigma), was 0.0031 ngml(-1). The precision was characterized by an RSD value of 3.78% (at the 4 ng.ml(-1) level, n = 11). The developed method has been applied to the determination of trace Pb in three standard reference materials. Accuracy was assessed through comparing the results with the accepted values.

Lead isotopes in environmental sciences: a review

Lead (Pb) isotopic analyses proved to be a very efficient tool for tracing the sources of local and global Pb pollution. This review presents an overview of literature published on the use of Pb isotopic analyses of different environmental matrices (atmospheric aerosols, lichens, tree rings, peat deposits, lake, stream, marine sediments, soils, etc.). In order to gain more insight, the isotopic compositions of major sources of Pb in the environment as determined by several authors are described in detail. These include, above all, the former use of leaded gasoline, coal combustion, industrial activities (e.g., metallurgy) and waste incineration. Furthermore, this review summarises analytical techniques (especially ICP-MS) used for the determination of Pb isotopes in environmental samples.

Inaccuracies in selected ion monitoring determination of isotope ratios obviated by profile acquisition: nucleotide 18O/16O measurements

Precise and accurate measurements of isotopologue distributions (IDs) in biological molecules are needed for determination of isotope effects, quantitation by isotope dilution, and quantification of isotope tracers employed in both metabolic and biophysical studies. While single ion monitoring (SIM) yields significantly greater sensitivity and signal/noise than profile-mode acquisitions, we show that small changes in the SIM window width and/or center can alter experimentally determined isotope ratios by up to 5%, resulting in significant inaccuracies. This inaccuracy is attributed to mass granularity, the differential distribution of digital data points across the m/z ranges sampled by SIM. Acquiring data in the profile mode and fitting the data to an equation describing a series of equally spaced and identically shaped peaks eliminates the inaccuracies associated with mass granularity with minimal loss of precision. Additionally a method of using the complete ID profile data that inherently corrects for "spillover" and for the natural-abundance ID has been used to determine 18O/16O ratios for 5',3'-guanosine bis-[18O1]phosphate and TM[18O1]P with precisions of approximately 0.005. The analysis protocol is also applied to quadrupole time-of-flight tandem mass spectrometry using [2-(18)O] arabinouridine and 3'-UM[18O1]P which enhances signal/noise and minimizes concerns for background contamination.

A Simple and Sensitive Flow-Injection On-line Preconcentration Coupled with Hydride Generation Atomic Fluorescence Spectrometry for the Determination of Ultra-trace Lead in Water, Wine, and Rice

A simple and sensitive flow-injection on-line separation and preconcentration system coupled to hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry (HG-AFS) was developed for ultra-trace lead determination in water, wine, and rice samples, with the salient advantages of its minimization of transition-metal interferences and tolerance to an ethanol matrix. A lead hydroxide precipitate was achieved by the on-line merging of a sample and an ammonium buffer solution and collected onto the inner walls of a knotted reactor (KR). Removal of the residual solution from KR was achieved by air flow, and dissolution of the precipitate was carried out by using 0.2 mol l(-1) HCl. With a sample consumption of 11.7 ml, an enhancement factor of 16 was obtained at a sample throughput of 30 h(-1). The limit of detection (3s) was 16 ng l(-1) and the precision (RSD) for 1.0 microg l(-1) Pb was 3.4%.

Flow injection on-line solid phase extraction for ultra-trace lead screening with hydride generation atomic fluorescence spectrometry

A flow injection (FI) on-line solid phase extraction (SPE) procedure for ultra-trace lead separation and preconcentration was developed, followed by hydride generation and atomic fluorescence spectrometric (AFS) detection. Lead is retained on an iminodiacetate chelating resin packed microcolumn, and is afterward eluted with 2.5% (v/v) hydrochloric acid to facilitate the hydride generation by reaction with alkaline tetrahydroborate solution with 1% (m/v) potassium ferricyanide as an oxidizing (or sensitizing) reagent. The hydride was separated from the reaction medium in the gas-liquid separator and swept into the atomizer for quantification. The chemical variables and the FI flow parameters were carefully optimized. With a sample loading volume of 4.8 ml, quantitative retention of lead was obtained, along with an enrichment factor of 11.3 and a sampling frequency of 50 h(-1). A detection limit of 4 ng l(-1), defined as 3 times the blank standard deviation (3 sigma), was achieved along with a RSD value of 1.6% at the 0.4 microg l(-1) level. The procedure was validated by determining lead contents in two certified reference materials, and its practical applicability was further demonstrated by analysing a variety of biological and environmental samples.