Terence H. Risby

Elemental Trace Analysis of Biological Materials

I. INTRODUCTION A. Scope and Purpose of the Review The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the effectiveness of a number of the more popular trace element analytical techniques in meeting the needs of the life scientists. Emphasis is directed towards the determination of trace elements in biological materials using those techniques that are currently being used extensively for this purpose or show promise in the immediate future. Techniques compared include anodic-stripping voltametry (ASV), atomic absorption spectrometry (AAS), electrothermal atomization-atomic absorption spectrometry (ETA-AAS), emission spectrometry (ES), inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES), ion-selective electrodes (ISE), neutron activation analysis (NAA), spark-source mass spectrometry (SSMS), and X-ray fluorescence (XRF) spectrometry. Emphasis is placed on their actual use in clinical analyses as indicated by their appearance in the clinical chemical literature for the past 10 years, rather than convent...

Microwave Induced Electrical Discharge Detectors for Gas Chromatography

I. INTRODUCTION A. General Gas chromatography has the unique characteristic of separation based on the interaction of molecules in the vapor state with a stationary liquid or solid phase. As a result of these interactive forces, gas chromatography can separate groups of compounds providing these molecules exhibit vapor pressures of at least 1 torr and have thermal stability at the column operating temperature. There are many applications of gas chromatography reported in the literature which span the fields of chemistry and biochemistry, and these separations are only limited by the imagination of the investigators. Indeed, gas chromatography is one of the most widely used analytical chemistry techniques.

Principles and applications of a research-oriented gas chromatography—mass spectrometry data system

Abstract A research-oriented gas chromatography—mass spectrometry data system for a quadrupole mass spectrometer has been developed based on a centrally located departmental computer facility. An overview of the hardware and software system is presented, emphasizing the important aspects of on-line computer data acquisition and control and the design philosophy used in the development of the system. The application of the system is demonstrated by the g.c.—m.s. analysis of a mixture of four transition metal β-diketonates (Al, Cr, Rh, and Ru tris-1,1,1-trifluoro-pentane-2,4-dionate). This analysis involved vacuum gas chromatography with a support-coated open tubular column and detection of the eluent by chemical ionization mass spectrometry. The results demonstrate the data system capabilities and indicate the utility of the combined methodologies.