Xiong Xiaohong, Jiang Tao, Qi Wenhao, Zuo Jun, Yang Meiling, Fei Qiang, Xiao Saijin, Yu Aimin, Zhu Zhiqiang, Chen Huanwen
Jiangxi Key Laboratory for Mass Spectrometry and Instrumentation, East China Institute of Technology, Nanchang 330013, China.
College of Chemistry, Jilin University, Changchun 130021, China.
Int J Anal Chem. 2015;2015:156509. doi: 10.1155/2015/156509. Epub 2015 Sep 2.
A sensitive mass spectrometric analysis method based on the microwave plasma technique is developed for the fast detection of trace rare earth elements (REEs) in aqueous solution. The plasma was produced from a microwave plasma torch (MPT) under atmospheric pressure and was used as ambient ion source of a linear ion trap mass spectrometer (LTQ). Water samples were directly pneumatically nebulized to flow into the plasma through the central tube of MPT. For some REEs, the generated composite ions were detected in both positive and negative ion modes and further characterized in tandem mass spectrometry. Under the optimized conditions, the limit of detection (LOD) was at the level 0.1 ng/mL using MS(2) procedure in negative mode. A single REE analysis can be completed within 2~3 minutes with the relative standard deviation ranging between 2.4% and 21.2% (six repeated measurements) for the 5 experimental runs. Moreover, the recovery rates of these REEs are between the range of 97.6%-122.1%. Two real samples have also been analyzed, including well and orange juice. These experimental data demonstrated that this method is a useful tool for the field analysis of REEs in water and can be used as an alternative supplement of ICP-MS.
开发了一种基于微波等离子体技术的灵敏质谱分析方法，用于快速检测水溶液中的痕量稀土元素（REEs）。等离子体由大气压下的微波等离子体炬（MPT）产生，并用作线性离子阱质谱仪（LTQ）的常压离子源。水样通过MPT的中心管直接气动雾化流入等离子体。对于某些稀土元素，在正离子和负离子模式下均检测到生成的复合离子，并在串联质谱中进一步表征。在优化条件下，采用负离子模式的MS(2)程序时，检测限为0.1 ng/mL。单次稀土元素分析可在2至3分钟内完成，5次实验运行的相对标准偏差在2.4%至21.2%之间（六次重复测量）。此外，这些稀土元素的回收率在97.6%至122.1%之间。还分析了两个实际样品，包括井水和橙汁。这些实验数据表明，该方法是用于水中稀土元素现场分析的有用工具，可作为电感耦合等离子体质谱（ICP-MS）的替代补充方法。
