Evaluation of internal standards for inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometric analysis of arsenic in soils. Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Arsenic (As) is a common contaminant in soils, and analysis of soils by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) is often used to detect As in soil extracts. Internal standards (ISs) are part of ICP-MS analyses to enhance precision and accuracy by compensating for instrument variability; however, an improper choice of IS can result in negative analytical bias. The goal of this study was to develop a protocol for evaluating ISs commonly used in ICP-MS. Three soils of varying clay content and total As were extracted with a dilute electrolyte [0.005mol L-1 Mg(NO3 )2 ] and an acid digest. Arsenic concentrations were quantified by ICP-MS using typical ISs: 6 Li, 45 Sc, 69 Ga, 89 Y, 103 Rh, 115 In, 159 Tb, and 209 Bi. Standard addition was used as a benchmark for As quantification. The most consistent IS was 115 In. Elevated, naturally occurring concentrations were detected for several of the ISs, particularly in the total digests, emphasizing the necessity for screening soils prior to analysis.

published proceedings

  • J Environ Qual

altmetric score

  • 9.5

author list (cited authors)

  • Alvarado, T. R., Lee, A. C., Tomlin, B., & Schwab, P.

citation count

  • 1

complete list of authors

  • Alvarado, Taylor R||Lee, Andrew C||Tomlin, Bryan||Schwab, Paul

publication date

  • January 2022

publisher