Imaging of elements in leaves of tobacco by solid sampling–electrothermal vaporization–inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry

Plants take up and store elements according to the environment in which they are growing. Because plants are at the base of the food chain, the determination of essential elements or toxic elements in plant materials is of importance. However, it is assumed that the element content determined on selected tissues may provide more specific information than that derived from the whole plant analysis. In this work, we assessed the feasibility of solid sampling–electrothermal vaporization–inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry analyses for quantitative imaging of Cd and Mg in plant leaves. Leaves of tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) were selected to be used as samples. To produce a two dimensional image, sections cut from leaf samples were analyzed. Cellulose doped with multi-element solution standards was used as calibration samples. Two certified reference materials (NIST SRM 1547 Peach Leaves and NIST SRM 1573a Tomato leaves) were used to verify the accuracy of measurements with good agreement between the measured concentrations and the certified values. Quantitative imaging revealed the inhomogeneous distribution of the selected elements. Excess of Cd and Mg tended to be focused on peripheral regions and the tip of the leaf.