GC-ICP-MS: A very sensitive hyphenated system for speciation analysis

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GC-ICP-MS: A very sensitive hyphenated system for speciation analysis

(11.08.2007)

Gas chromatography is a very effective sample introduction technique for atomic spectroscopy because of the absence of a condensed mobile phase and the very high separation efficiency. Unfortunately, it is limited solely to organometallic compounds which are volatile and thermally stable in the native form or which can be converted to a volatile form by means of derivatizaton.

Major challenges for interfacing GC to ICP-MS for speciation analysis are the avoidance of thermal degradation of the analyte species in the injector and column and condensation at the interface during transport from the end of the column to the ICP torch. Today, GC-ICP-MS interfaces are commercially available.

Fig. 1: GC-ICP-MS hyphenated technique

As can be seen from the development of publications related to GC-ICP-MS, the technique suffers from its somewhat limited applicability. Within the field of speciation very few compounds fulfil the requirements for its application, namely volatility and thermal stability. Most often, the analyst has to resort to chemical reactions to transform nonvolatile compounds (usually ionic) into volatile thermally stable compounds. Those reactions are known as derivatization reactions and may include hydride generation, ethylation, propylation, butylation or pentylation.

Fig.2: Publications related to GC-ICP-MS for speciation analysis

The main characteristics of GC-ICP-MS, in which it clearly differs from other atomic detection techniques such as MIP-AES, is its ability to provide isotopic information. This extra information can be used in two ways: to investigate the sources of elemental species, as in the studies performed on lead and sulfur, or to use isotope dilution methodology to study species transformation and to improve the quality of the analytical information obtained. We should expect more developments in this field as the combination of GC with multicollector ICP-MS and ICP-TOFMS instruments has only started to be evaluated.

Tutorial material related to GC

Sheffield Hallam University, UK: Gas Chromatography
John V. Hinshaw, A Compendium of GC Terms and Techniques, LC-GC North America, 20/11 (2002) 1034-1040
Konrad Grob, The GC Separation Process: A simple model for non-mathematically minded chromatographers
IonSource.com: Introduction to Capillary Chromatography
IUPAC: Chromatography Nomenclature and Definitions
Thomas G. Chasteen: Flash Animation: Gas Chromatography with Split/Splitless Injection
Thomas G. Chasteen: Quicktime Movie: Gas Chromatography with Split/Splitless Injection
Thomas G. Chasten: Flash Animation: Temperature Programming in Gas Chromatography
Thomas G. Chasten: Quicktime Movie: Temperature Programming in Gas Chromatography
Thomas G. Chasteen: Flash Animation: Cryogenic Trapping Gas Chromatography
Thomas G. Chasteen: Quicktime Movie: Cryogenic Trapping Gas Chromatography
Thomas G. Chasteen: Flash Animation: Solvent Focussing in Gas Chromatography
Thoms G. Chasten: Quicktime Movie: Solvent Focussing in Gas Chromatography

in German: Tobias Brinkert (ISAS, Dortmund): Grundlagen der Gaschromatographie
in German: Virtual GC - On-line Simulation eines GC instruments

Books on Gas Chromatography

Dean Rood, The Troubleshooting and Maintenance Guide for Gas Chromatographers, 4th ed., Wiley-VCH, 2007.

Bruno Kolb, Leslie S. Ettre, Static Headspace - Gas Chromatography, 2nd ed., John Wiley & Sons, ISBN 0-471-74944-3, 2006.

Robert L. Grob, Eugene F. Barry, Modern Practice of Gas Chromatography, 4th ed., John Wiley & Sons, New York, ISBN 0-471-22983-0, 2004.

K. Grob, Split and Splitless Injection for Quantitative Gas Chromatography, 4th ed., Wiley-VCH, Weinberg, ISBN 3-527-29879-7, 2001.

Alan J. Handley, Edward Adlard, Gas Chromatographic Techniques and Applications, Blackwell Publishing, Oxford, UK, ISBN 1-8412-7118-7, 2001.

Reviews of GC-ICP-MS (newest first)

Jose I. García Alonso, J. Ruiz Encinar, Separation techniques: gas chromatography and other gas based methods, in: Handbook of Elemental Speciation, Rita C. Cornelis, H.W. Crews, Joseph A. Caruso, Klaus G. Heumann, (eds.), John Wiley & Sons, Chichester, UK, 2004, pp. 163-200. doi: 10.1002/0470868384.ch4

Jorgelina C.A. Wuilloud, Rodolfo G. Wuilloud, Anne P. Vonderheide, Joseph A. Caruso, Gas chromatography/plasma spectrometry-an important analytical tool for elemental speciation studies, Spectrochim. Acta, Part B, 59/6 (2004) 755-792. doi:10.1016/j.sab.2004.03.009

Brice Bouyssiere, Joanna Szpunar, Gaëtane Lespes, Ryszard Lobinski, Gas chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric detection (GC-ICP MS), Adv. Chromatogr. (N.Y.), 42 (2003) 107-137.

Brice Bouyssiere, Joanna Szpunar, Gaëtane Lespes, Ryszard Lobinski, Gas chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometric detection in speciation analysis, Spectrochim. Acta, Part B, 57/5 (2002) 805-828. doi:10.1016/S0584-8547(02)00024-1

Freddy C. Adams, M. Ceulemans, S. Slaets, GC Hyphenations for Speciation Analysis of Organometal Compounds, LC-GC Europe, 14/9 (2001) 548-563.

Ryszard Lobinski, Freddy C. Adams, Speciation analysis by gas chromatography with plasma source spectrometric detection, Spectrochim. Acta, Part B, 52/13 (1997) 1865-1903. doi:10.1016/S0584-8547(97)00093-1

Studies on the instrumentation and instrumental parameters of GC-ICP-MS

M.J. Watts, A.W. Kim, D.S. Vidler, R.O. Jenkins, J.F. Hall, C.F. Harrington, Construction and evaluation of a low cost interface for the determination of elemental speciation by Gas Chromatography Coupled to Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry (GC-ICP-MS), Instrum. Sci. Technol., 35/1 (2007) 15-31. DOI: 10.1080/10739140601000616

Dietmar Glindemann, Gunter Ilgen, Reimer Herrmann, Thomas Gollan, Advanced GC/ICP-MS design for high-boiling analyte speciation and large volume solvent injection, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 17/10 (2002) 1386-1389. DOI: 10.1039/b109951p

Isaac Rodriguez-Pereiro, Sandra Mounicou, Ryszard Lobinski, Vladimir Sidelnikov, Youri Patrushev, Michiko Yamanaka, Species-selective analysis by microcolumn multicapillary gas chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry detection, Anal. Chem., 71/20 (1999) 4534-4543. doi: 10.1021/ac990525d

María Montes-Bayón, Manuel Gutiérrez Camblor, Jose Ignacio García Alonso, Alfredo Sanz-Medel, An alternative GC-ICP-MS interface design for trace element speciation, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 14/9 (1999) 1317-1322. DOI: 10.1039/a901760g

John Poehlman, Brian W. Pack, Gary M. Hieftje, A heated transfer line for coupling GC with plasma source spectrometry, Int. Lab., 29/4 (1999) 26-29. doi: 10.1039/a809296f

Sofie Slaets, Freddy Adams, Isaac Rodriguez Pereiro, Ryszard Lobinski, Optimization of the coupling of multicapillary GC with ICP-MS for mercury speciation analysis in biological materials, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 14/5 (1999) 851-857.

G. Pritzl, F. Stuer-Lauridsen, L. Carlsen, A.K. Jensen, T.K. Thorsen, A versatile capillary gas chromatography inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometer interface, Int. J. Environ. Anal. Chem. , 62/2 (1996) 147-159.

T. De Smaele, P. Verrept, Luc Moens, R. Dams, A flexible interface for the coupling of capillary gas chromatography with inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry, Spectrochim. Acta, Part B, 50/11 (1995) 1409-1416. doi:10.1016/0584-8547(95)01351-6

Gregory R. Peters, Diane Beauchemin, Characterization of an Interface Allowing either Nebulization or Gas Chromatography as the Sample Introduction System in ICPMS, Anal. Chem., 65/2 (1993) 97-103.

Instrument manufacturer's application notes (newest first)

Agilent Technologies: Handbook of Hyphenated ICP-MS Applications

Agilent Technologies: #5989-1615EN: PBDE Analysis by GC-ICP-MS: Rapid, sensitive detection of polybrominated diphenyl ethers, September 2005.

Agilent Technologies: #5988-9461EN: Juris Meija, Maria Montes-Bayon, Joseph A. Caruso, Speciation of Volatile Selenium Species in Plants using GC/ICP-MS, August 2003

Agilent Technologies: #5988-9880EN: Steven M. Wilbur, Emmett Soffey, Quantification and Characterization of Sulfur in Low Sulfur Reformulated Gasolines by GC-ICP-MS, August 2003

Agilent Technologies: #5988-9294EN: Ed McCurdy, Steve Wilbur, Glenn Woods, Determination of Sulphur Species and Total Sulphur in Fuels, Using GC-ICP-MS, March 2003

Agilent Technologies: #5988-6697: R. Wahlen, A Comparison of GC-ICP-MS and HPLC-ICP-MS for the Analysis of Organotin Compounds, July 2002

Agilent Technologies: #5988-4332EN: Technical Features of ICP-MS Plasma Chromatographic Software

Agilent Technologies: #5988-3071EN: Agilent GC-ICP-MS Interface technology

Agilent Technologies: #5980-0336E: Michiko Yamanaka, O.F.X. Donard, Speciation of Organotin Compounds, Using a Newly Developed, Experimental GC-ICP-MS Interface

Agilent Technologies, 2002: Ed McCurdy, Glenn Woods, Raimund Wahlen, New Applications of GC-ICP-MS

Gerstel AN 2002-06: Marie-Pierre Pavageau, Eva M. Krupp, Olivier F. X. Donard, Eike Kleine-Benne, Analysis of Volatile Metalloid Species in Gas Samples using a Commercial Cryotrapping System (TDS-G-CIS GC) Coupled to ICP-MS with PH 3 and SF 6 as example compounds, 6/2002

Gerstel: J. Vercauteren, C. Peres, C. Devos, L. Moens, P. Sandra, Stir Bar Sorptive Extraction - Thermal Desorption - Capillary GC - ICP-MS for the Determination of Organotin Compounts in Environmental Samples, May 2000

Thermo Scientific: Poster WPC 01/2008: Torsten Lindemann, Shona McSheehy, Meike Hamester, A New GC Interface for Sector Field ICP-MS

Thermo Scientific: Poster WPC 01/2008: Shona McSheehy, Tomoko Oki, Julian Wills, Meike Hamester, Comparison of GC-ICP-MS and HPLC-ICP-MS for Speciation of Mercury in Blood

Thermo Scientific: #40744: Martin Nash, Shona McSheehy, Determination of Butyltins in Waters and Leachates using GC Coupled with XSeries II ICP-MS

Thermo Scientific: #40721: Martin Nash, Eva Krupp, Shona McSheehy, Determination of Methylmercury in Fish by GC Coupled with X Series ICP-MS

Thermo Scientific: #40698: Martin Nash, Eva Krupp, Determination of Organo-Tin Species in Sediment Extracts Using GC Coupled with X Series ICP-MS

Thermo Scientific: Product Specification: Coupling the X Series Quadrupole ICP-MS with Gas Chromatography for Elemental Speciation Analysis