Agilent 8800 triple quadrupole icp ms

Five multielement calibration solutions of different concentrations (1–100 µg·L⁻¹) were prepared by diluting a 100 mg/L multi-element calibration standard purchased from CPA Chem (CPA Ltd., Bogomilovo, Bulgaria). The calibration curves were evaluated for the following isotopes: ⁵²Cr, ⁵⁵Mn, ⁵⁶Fe, ⁵⁹Co, ⁶⁰Ni, ⁶³Cu, ⁶⁶Zn, ¹¹¹Cd, and ²⁰⁸Pb and showed good linearity over the selected concentration range, with correlation coefficients higher than 0.999. In addition, two concentrations in the calibration range (25 and 50 ppb) were checked using quality control samples (QC) prepared from a 10 mg/L multielement calibration standard 2A (p.n 8500-6940), purchased from Agilent Technologies. Both samples and calibration solutions were diluted with ultrapure water (18 MΩ·cm) obtained from a Milli-Q^® filtration system (Millipore, Bedford, MA, USA). For metal concentration analysis, the samples were prepared in triplicate by applying a 10-fold dilution with ultrapure water. Then, the diluted samples were immediately analyzed by Agilent 8800 Triple Quadrupole ICP-MS (Agilent Technologies, Tokyo, Japan) after a prior tuning according to manufacturer specifications. The instrument includes two mass quadrupoles separated by a helium-pressurized octupole collision/reaction cell (CRC) that removes spectral interferences. The operating conditions are given in Table 3.

Four reduced samples were selected and milled in a laboratory ring mill prior to leaching. They were samples that reduced for 1 h reductions at 1000 °C and 1100 °C, and for the ones reduced for 2.5 h, at 1000 °C and 1100 °C. About 5.0 g of samples was leached with 100 mL of a Na₂CO₃ solution (60 g/L) at 60 °C for 60 min in a beaker on a hot plate. After leaching, the mixture was filtered with a vacuum set-up until all the liquid had passed. The pore size of the filter used was 11 µm. The filter cakes were dried in an oven at 65 °C for 24 h before weighing. The filtrate for each sample was collected in containers, from which some of the filtrates of each sample (3 mL) were sent to for ICP-MS analysis (Agilent 8800 Triple Quadrupole ICP-MS). In addition to the final leachate samples, a blank sample of the Na₂CO₃-solution was taken and sent for ICP-MS as well. The dried filter cakes were collected in containers and were analyzed by XRD.

An Agilent 8800 Triple Quadrupole ICP-MS (ICP-QQQ, Agilent Technologies, Singapore) was used to determine the Cd and Tl content of biological samples. The apparatus was equipped with a MicroMist glass concentric nebulizer, a Peltier-cooled quartz double-pass Scott-type spray chamber, a quartz torch with a 2.5-mm i.d., Ni interface cones, an x-lens, and an octopole reaction system (ORS3). Samples were introduced directly into the ICP-MS using a SPS 4 autosampler with a standard peristaltic pump and tubing (i.d. 1.02 mm).
A Solaar M6 (Thermo Electron Corporation, Gloucester, UK) atomic absorption spectrometer, equipped with an electrothermal atomizer and a Zeeman background correction system, was used to determine the Cd concentration of liver samples.
A Milestone ETHOS Plus Microwave Labstation (Italy) was used for microwave-assisted digestion of samples. Samples were homogenized using a blender with a glass jar (Łucznik, Poland), a mechanical micro-stirrer (MPW-321; Mechanika Precyzyjna, Poland), and a SONOREX DIGIPLUS ultrasonic bath (DL 255H; ultrasonic nominal power: 160 W, power settings: 20–100%, ultrasonic frequency: 35 kHz) from Bandelin (Germany). A Memmert UE 400 oven (Germany) was used to dry biological samples. A DSX110 inverted microscope (Olympus Corporation, Japan) was used for measurements of puparial length and width.

Cadmium concentration was determined by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS); before analysis, samples were diluted with a solution containing HNO₃ (1% v/V) and HCl (0.5% v/V), and all measurements were performed in triplicates. An Agilent 8800 Triple Quadrupole ICP-MS (Agilent Technologies, Santa Clara, CA, USA) equipped with a MicroMist glass concentric nebulizer, Peltier-cooled double-pass Scott-type spray chamber, and Ni cones was used for the analyses. The instrument-optimized operating parameters were 1550 W RF power, 8.0 mm sampling depth, 15 L/min plasma gas, and 1.03 L/min carrier gas. With the spray chamber temperature set at 2 °C, the isotopes measured were ¹¹¹Cd, ¹¹²Cd, and ¹¹⁴Cd. The measurements were performed in No Gas mode, He mode and He-He mode, with a single-quad scan type. The He flow rates for the collision cell were 4.5 mL/min for the He mode, and 10 mL/min for the He-He mode. The integration time was 0.1 s for each mass value and the data acquisition was fixed at 3 replicates and 100 sweeps for replicates. Since all the isotopes show the same response using the different gas modes, the data presented in this work refer to the isotope 114 in the He mode.

The determination of minerals was performed using an Agilent 8800 triple quadrupole ICP-MS (Agilent Technologies, Tokyo, Japan) operated in low matrix plasma mode. For the quantification of magnesium (Mg), phosphorous (P), sulfur (S), potassium (K), calcium (Ca), manganese (Mn), iron (Fe), cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), zinc (Zn), selenium (Se), rubidium (Rb), strontium (Sr), molybdenum (Mo) and iodine (I), the external calibration approach was applied and a certified serum reference material was analyzed on a daily basis for quality control (Konz et al., 2017 (link)). Standard clinical routine analysis of sodium (Na), chlorine (Cl), and potassium (K) was performed using an Architect plus ci4100 platform from Abbott Laboratories (Lake Bluff, IL, United States) equipped with an electrochemistry module. Individual quality control samples were tested on a daily basis prior to analysis.

Approximately 250 mg of dried sample was weighed into a Teflon microwave digestion vessel with 7 mL HNO₃ and 0.5 mL 30% H₂O₂ (w/w). The vessels were capped and the rotor was placed into an Anton Paar Multiwave Pro microwave (Anton Paar; Graz, Austria) and digested by ramping the power to 1400 W over 15 min then holding for 30 min. After a cooling cycle at 0 W, samples were removed from the microwave and gravimetrically diluted to approximately 50 mL with deionized water (DIW).
The digested samples were further diluted to a matrix of approximately 2% HNO₃ (v/v) and analysed on an Agilent 8800 Triple Quadrupole ICP-MS (Agilent Technologies; Santa Clara, CA, USA) in triple quadrupole mode using O₂ as cell gas, monitoring the M⁺  > MO⁺ transition for ⁷⁴Se, ⁷⁶Se, ⁷⁷Se, ⁷⁸Se, ⁸⁰Se, and ⁸²Se. Solutions of NIST SRM 3149 (selenium standard solution) prepared in 2% HNO₃ (v/v) were used for external calibration.