Speciation and detection of arsenic in aqueous samples: A review of recent progress in non-atomic spectrometric methods

Inorganic arsenic (As) displays extreme toxicity and is a class A human carcinogen. It is of interest to both analytical chemists and environmental scientists. Facile and sensitive determination of As and knowledge of the speciation of forms of As in aqueous samples are vitally important. Nearly every nation has relevant official regulations on permissible limits of drinking water As content. The size of the literature on As is therefore formidable. The heart of this review consists of two tables: one is a compilation of principal official documents and major review articles, including the toxicology and chemistry of As. This includes comprehensive official compendia on As speciation, sample treatment, recommended procedures for the determination of As in specific sample matrices with specific analytical instrument(s), procedures for multi-element (including As) speciation and analysis, and prior comprehensive reviews on arsenic analysis. The second table focuses on the recent literature (2005–2013, the coverage for 2013 is incomplete) on As measurement in aqueous matrices. Recent As speciation and analysis methods based on spectrometric and electrochemical methods, inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry, neutron activation analysis and biosensors are summarized. We have deliberately excluded atomic optical spectrometric techniques (atomic absorption, atomic fluorescence, inductively coupled plasma-optical emission spectrometry) not because they are not important (in fact the majority of arsenic determinations are possibly carried out by one of these techniques) but because these methods are sufficiently mature and little meaningful innovation has been made beyond what is in the officially prescribed compendia (which are included) and recent reviews are available.     

Determination of technetium-99 in environmental samples: A review

Due to the lack of a stable technetium isotope, and the high mobility and long half-life, ⁹⁹Tc is considered to be one of the most important radionuclides in safety assessment of environmental radioactivity as well as nuclear waste management. ⁹⁹Tc is also an important tracer for oceanographic research due to the high technetium solubility in seawater as TcO₄⁻. A number of analytical methods, using chemical separation combined with radiometric and mass spectrometric measurement techniques, have been developed over the past decades for determination of ⁹⁹Tc in different environmental samples. This article summarizes and compares recently reported chemical separation procedures and measurement methods for determination of ⁹⁹Tc. Due to the extremely low concentration of ⁹⁹Tc in environmental samples, the sample preparation, pre-concentration, chemical separation and purification for removal of the interferences for detection of ⁹⁹Tc are the most important issues governing the accurate determination of ⁹⁹Tc. These aspects are discussed in detail in this article. Meanwhile, the different measurement techniques for ⁹⁹Tc are also compared with respect to advantages and drawbacks. Novel automated analytical methods for rapid determination of ⁹⁹Tc using solid extraction or ion exchange chromatography for separation of ⁹⁹Tc, employing flow injection or sequential injection approaches are also discussed.     

Calibration possibilities and modifier use in ETV ICP OES determination of trace and minor elements in plant materials

The possibilities for universal calibration based on multi-element aqueous standard solutions and graphite laboratory reference materials (graphite standards) for the electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometric (ETV ICP OES) determination of Al, B, Ba, Cd, Co, Cr, Cu, Fe, Mn, Ni, P, Pb, S, Sr, Ti, V, and Zn in plant materials were investigated. A commercially available state-of-the-art ETV device was coupled with an Echelle ICP spectrometer equipped with a charge-injection-device (CID) camera for spectral detection. The transition area between transport tube and ETV graphite tube and the gas streams for inner gas, bypass gas, and modifier gas were optimized to achieve best transport efficiencies. The influence of four gaseous modifiers (CCl₄, CHCl₃, CCl₂F₂, and C₃H₈) added to the inner gas was studied. Five reference materials (RM P-Alfalfa, Lucerne; NIES CRM No.9 “Sargasso”; CTA-VTL-2 Virginia Tobacco Leaves; NIST SRM 1515 Apple Leaves; IAEA-V-10 Hay Powder) were used for method validation. If certified reference materials are not available, calibration against graphite standards or dried aqueous standard solutions is possible. Three carbonization procedures as sample pretreatment for the plant materials were investigated. Figure Picture of the ETV system (sample changer and graphite-tube furbace) used in this work Presented at the European Symposium on Atomic Spectrometry (ESAS) September 28-October 1, 2008, Weimar, Germany.     

Sample preparation methods for subsequent determination of metals and non-metals in crude oil—A review

In this review sample preparation strategies used for crude oil digestion in last ten years are discussed focusing on further metals and non-metals determination. One of the main challenges of proposed methods has been to overcome the difficulty to bring crude oil samples into solution, which should be compatible with analytical techniques used for element determination. On this aspect, this review summarizes the sample preparation methods for metals and non metals determination in crude oil including those based on wet digestion, combustion, emulsification, extraction, sample dilution with organic solvents, among others. Conventional methods related to wet digestion with concentrated acids or combustion are also covered, with special emphasis to closed systems. Trends in sample digestion, such as microwave-assisted digestion using diluted acids combined with high-efficiency decomposition systems are discussed. On the other hand, strategies based on sample dilution in organic solvents and procedures recommended for speciation analysis are reported as well as the use of direct analysis in view of the recent importance for crude oil field. A compilation concerning sample preparation for crude oil provided by official methods as well as certified reference materials available for accuracy evaluation is also presented and discussed.     

Analytical methods for inorganic arsenic in water: a review

Inorganic arsenic, a term which encompasses both As (III) and As (V) species, constitutes the highest toxicological risk associated with arsenic in water in contrast to the organic arsenic species. Different determination methods of inorganic arsenic have been developed over 40 years providing timely and efficient risk assessments of inorganic arsenic contamination world wide. The current report gives an overview of more than 100 papers, regarding existing methods for analysis of As (III) and As (V) in water, including various spectroscopic, ICP and electrochemical techniques. Recent field portable analytical applications are also reviewed.     

Non-chromatographic atomic spectrometric methods in speciation analysis: A review

In recent years, knowledge of the different chemical forms of the elements has gained increasing importance. There has been significant progress in methods that hyphenate chromatographic separations with atomic spectrometry. These hyphenated methods can provide the most complete information on the species distribution and even structure. However, they can be lengthy, relatively costly and difficult to bring to the routine. On the other hand, it is important to remember that chromatographic techniques represent only a minor part of the separation procedures available and, in certain cases, the application of basic chemistry to sample treatments can give quantitative information about specific chemical forms. In this sense, non-chromatographic procedures can provide methods that offer sufficient information on the elemental speciation for a series of situations. Moreover, these non-chromatographic strategies can be less time consuming, more cost effective and available, and present competitive limits of detection. Thus, non-chromatographic speciation analysis continues to be a promising research area and has been applied to the development of several methodologies that facilitate this type of analytical approach. In view of their importance, the present work overviews and discusses different non-chromatographic methods as alternatives for the speciation analysis of clinical, environmental and food samples using atomic spectrometry for detection.