PQ LC Series Highly Sensitive LC-ICP-MS Solutions for the Determination of Elemental Species

PQ LC Series for Hyphenation with PlasmaQuant MS

The combination of PQ LC and PlasmaQuant MS (LC-ICP-MS) offers a versatile, robust, and highly sensitive solution for the determination of element species in various kinds of samples. The species or chemical forms in which the element is present can have different mobility, bioavailability, and toxicity. This is why a careful characterization of environmental, food, and agricultural samples as well as consumer goods is required. Liquid chromatography allows for separation of elemental species, and the detection by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) enables highly sensitive determination. Hence, LC-ICP-MS is an essential tool for assessing benefits and/or risk of elements present in the sample.

Environmental – Elemental speciation plays an important role with respect to evaluating chemistry of an element as well as its bioavailability and toxicity towards organisms or their chemical and physical effects on natural cycles. Elements of interest in species identification are e.g., arsenic, chromium, mercury.

Food and Agriculture – The quantification of major and trace elements, and of essential, nutritional, and potentially toxic elements is a common application in ICP-MS. Since an element can be essential or toxic just based on the oxidation state or compound in which it occurs, the determination of elemental species in foods and beverages is crucial for ensuring their safety. LC-ICP-MS enables the determination of elemental species, e.g analyzing arsenic species in juice or mercury species in seafood.

Pharma – Regulations and standards describe quality control procedures to ensure the efficiency and harmlessness of pharmaceutical products. During production, pharmaceutical products might be contaminated with e.g., chromium. Therefore, the potential toxicity must be evaluated by determining the concentration of Cr(VI) according to defined standards.