Zeitschrift für analytische und bioanalytische Techniken

Abstrakt

Determination of Sulfur in Bio-Samples by ICP-QMS/QMS with an ORC

Yanbei Zhu, Yuko Kitamaki, Megumi Kato, Tomoya Kinumi, Akiharu Hioki and Koichi Chiba

A method for determination of sulfur was investigated using an inductively coupled plasma tandem quadrupole mass spectrometer (ICP-QMS/QMS) with an octopole reaction/collision cell (ORC). It helped to achieve a lower background equivalent concentration (BEC) and a lower detection limit (DL) when 10% HNO3 with 10% ethanol was applied as the rinse solution. Sulfur measurement was carried out by shifting the measured mass from 32S+ to 32S16O+ by reaction with O₂ gas. The introduction of H2 together with O₂ as reaction gases provided a lower DL. The BEC and DL of 32S were 0.83 ng g-1 and 0.03 ng g-1, respectively. The validation of the present method was confirmed by determining sulfur in certified reference materials, NIST SRMs 2773, 2298, and 2299. The results of sulfur in amino-acids and protein indicate that determination of sulfur could be an effective technique for quantification of sulfur-containing amino acids and proteins.