Exploiting dynamic reaction cell inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (DRC-ICP-MS) for sequential determination of trace elements in blood using a dilute-and-shoot procedure

Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry with quadrupole (q-ICP-MS) and dynamic reaction cell (DRC-ICP-MS) were evaluated for sequential determination of As, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Mn, Pb, Se, Tl, V and Zn in blood. The method requires as little as 100 μL of blood. Prior to analysis, samples (100 μL) were diluted 1:50 in a solution containing 0.01% (v/v) Triton® X-100 and 0.5% (v/v) nitric acid. The use of the DRC was only mandatory for Cr, Cu, V and Zn. For the other elements the equipment may be operated in a standard mode (q-ICP-MS). Ammonia was used as reaction gas. Selection of best flow rate of ammonium gas and optimization of the quadrupole dynamic band-pass tuning parameter (RPq) were carried out, using a ovine base blood for Cr and V and a synthetic matrix solution (SMS) for Zn and Cu diluted 1:50 and spiked to contain 1 μg L−1 of each element. Method detection limits (3 s) for 75As, 114Cd, 59Co, 51Cr, 63Cu 55Mn, 208Pb, 82Se, 205Tl, 51V, and 64Zn were 14.0, 3.0, 11.0, 7.0, 280, 9.0, 3.0, 264, 0.7, 6.0 and 800 ng L−1, respectively. Method validation was accomplished by the analysis of blood Reference Materials produced by the L’Institut National de Santé Publique du Quebec (Canada).