News from LabRulezICPMS Library - Week 19, 2025

Our Library never stops expanding. What are the most recent contributions to LabRulezICPMS Library in the week of 5th May 2025? Check out new documents from the field of spectroscopy/spectrometry and related techniques!

👉 SEARCH THE LARGEST REPOSITORY OF DOCUMENTS ABOUT SPECTROSCOPY/SPECTROMETRY RELATED TECHNIQUES

👉 Need info about different analytical techniques? Peek into LabRulezLCMS or LabRulezGCMS libraries.

This week we bring you brochure by Agilent Technologies, application note by Shimadzu and other document by Thermo Fisher Scientific!

1. Agilent Technologies: Enhance Your Capabilities with the Agilent Cary 60 UV-Vis Spectrophotometer and Fiber Optic Probes

Improve your lab operations

• Brochure
• Full PDF for download

Remote capabilities with fiber optic probes 

The Agilent Cary 60 UV-Vis spectrophotometer can be paired with fiber optic probes to unlock the potential for measurements that are not possible with traditional methods. These fiber optic probes allow for remote analysis, enabling a range of difficult measurements to be obtained, such as: 

• Measurements of small volumes, or of hot/cold samples 
• Measurements in controlled environments such as fume hoods or glove boxes 
• Measurements from areas in which it is difficult to obtain a sample, such as reaction vessels

This remote analysis capability therefore enhances safety and convenience in the lab. 

Enhanced workflow efficiency 

Switching to the fiber optic probes can dramatically improve the UV-Vis analysis workflow. Unlike traditional cuvette analyses, fiber optic probes are significantly easier to wash and clean. In addition, the probes are very robust, unlike cuvettes (particularly quartz/glass), which can be expensive to replace when broken. This translates into a faster and more efficient process, allowing operators to focus on their analysis rather than on sample introduction.

Performance comparison: fiber optic probe vs. cuvettes

Our comparative study displays the reliability of the fiber optic probe for quick and easy measurements. The probe (1 cm pathlength) was connected to the Cary 60 UV-Vis via the fiber optic coupler to measure the absorbance of five standards (n = 5) of thymol blue in test tubes where serial dilutions had taken place.

Improve your lab operations 

The Agilent Cary 60 UV-Vis spectrophotometer combined with fiber optic probes offers a simple approach to sample measurement, providing remote capabilities and improving workflow efficiency. Enhance your lab operations and experience the benefits of this powerful combination. 

Why choose the fiber optic probe? 

The fiber optic probe provides a range of benefits: 

• Ease of use: The probe is simple to operate, reducing the time and effort required for measurements. 
• Durability: Built to withstand rigorous laboratory conditions, the probe is made from quartz, PTFE, stainless steel, and torlon, ensuring long-term reliability. 
• Lab efficiency: The probe provides time savings and increased productivity. 
• Cost saving: No cuvette is required. 
• Enhanced safety: Handling of hazardous chemicals are not required. 
• Remote measurement: Samples can be measured from any vessel type, up to meters away from the instrument. 

2. Shimadzu: Determination of Trace Elements in Whole Blood by ICP-MS with Simple Dilution of Samples

• Application note
• Full PDF for download

User Benefits:

• Whole blood samples are directly diluted and tested to avoid contamination and losses caused by complex pretreatment
  processes, while saving labor and time costs.
• Low sample consumption enables simultaneous analysis of trace elements in batch samples for research. 

Elements are crucial substances that sustain normal metabolism and life activities within the human body. They serve as components of certain enzymes, hormones, and so on in the body and are also significant indicators of human nutritional status. Blood is a common biological fluid, a complex liquid mixture mainly composed of water, proteins, glucose, mineral salts, and red and white blood cells. Meanwhile, blood samples for research are characterized by small size yet large in quantity.
Therefore, how to rapidly, accurately, and simply detect the content of multiple trace elements in bulk whole blood is an urgent problem that needs to be solved.

This article uses a mixed dilution solution of 0.2% HNO3+0.1 mg/L Au to dilute whole blood samples 20 times, and directly determines the content of 19 elements including Fe, Ca, Mg, Se, Hg, Pb in the samples by ICPMS-2050.

Conclusion

The content of trace elements in whole blood was determined with Shimadzu ICPMS-2050. The method was achieved with simple pre-processing, low pollution, low sample consumption, high accuracy, fast analysis speed. From the analysis result, even ICPMS-2040 with only He collision can meet the elemental analysis in whole blood. In addition,
ICPMS-2050 with the H2 mode can improve the sensitivity of Se.

3. Thermo Fisher Scientific: Pushing the limits for trace elemental analysis using triple quadrupole ICP-MS

• Other (Case study)
• Full PDF for download

Ultra Trace Analysis Aquitaine (UT2A) was formed in 1999 as a spin-off laboratory from the University of Pau, France, and is today a renowned independent technology center dedicated to inorganic analysis. The team’s mission is to help their clients fully understand the elemental content of their samples—not just supporting them by performing analyses but also helping established laboratories develop and fully optimize existing methods, up to the generation of ready to implement SOPs. UT2A collaborates with customers from all industries and analyzes a wide range of samples, including waters, foods, pharmaceuticals, and polymers. UT2A also provides solutions to test established methods for evaluation of performance.

Jean Dumont is an application engineer with a background in elemental speciation who is now managing the routine analysis performed in the laboratory. He joined UT2A in 2003 as one of the first of what is now a team of 11 technical experts and lab technicians in the field of elemental analysis. “The first ICP-MS I used did not yet have a collision cell, so we had to be very careful with interferences,” says Jean. He adds, “For us, it is also very important to include sample preparation into our considerations as it is vital to get complete digestions and also to decrease detection limits due to backgrounds.”

UT2A received a Thermo Scientific™ iCAP™ MTX ICP-MS in their lab and have used it intensively and in full production over a period of 10 months. This was possible as the system was fully qualified using IQ/OQ. The instrument was usually operated twice per week, and on each day of operation, approximately 200 samples were run, including all blanks, standards, and QC checks.

One sample that particularly benefitted from the novel technology within the iCAP MTX ICP-MS was an aqueous medical solution containing g∙L⁻¹ of NaCl but requiring a quite stringent quantification limit of 1 μg∙L⁻¹ for iron. Considering the 1:10 dilution, this means that the instrument needs to reliably detect 0.1 μg∙L⁻¹. “That was easily possible thanks to the great sensitivity of the instrument in KED (Kinetic Energy Discrimination) mode,” says Jean. This can be easily complemented by using reactive gases and triple quadrupole technology for advanced interference removal when needed. One example was a request to analyze selenium in a product that contains high levels of gadolinium, creating an interference through doubly charged ions.

Running such samples with only a light dilution upfront usually means a lot of maintenance on conventional ICP-MS systems, as salt deposits may clog nebulizers or contaminate the interface area of an ICP-MS. Ultimately, such effects lead to drifts and QC failures, as well as declining sensitivity over time. The Thermo Scientific™ iCAP™ MX Series ICP-MS instruments come with a redesigned sample introduction system and interface, greatly reducing such unwanted matrix effects. While the new interface design significantly reduces deposition during sample analysis, intelligent Matrix Handling (or iMH) helps to further reduce exposure of the instrument during non-productive analysis times (i.e., sample uptake and wash). Samples containing even higher amounts of total dissolved solids (TDS) can be diluted automatically using argon gas directly in the instrument with the new Easy Argon Gas Dilution (Easy AGD).

“We have used the matrix interface for this kind of analysis, and there was no deposition visible on the interface. No issues pointing towards an issue with cones, not even with undiluted seawater,” states Jean. If the interface needs to be cleaned, the easy access makes this a simple procedure, also for the sample introduction system. “In case we’re asked to really push the quantification limits, it is also great to be able to easily access the extraction lens on the backside of the interface,” says Jean. Compared to other instruments, the frequency of maintenance could be reduced. “I explained to my technicians earlier that you have to clean cones every time you use the instrument. However, with the iCAP MTX ICP-MS, we only cleaned the cones for really pushing the quantification limits—most of the time, it was not required and certainly not done as frequently as before.”

For laboratories where operators are switching between different applications and instruments, software is a key element to success. Thermo Scientific™ Qtegra™ Intelligent Scientific Data Solution (ISDS) Software is a strong asset. “I have used former versions of Qtegra software, and I am now happy with all functions integrated into a single graphical user interface. Qtegra software is easy to understand, even for new users.” Qtegra ISDS software allows users to define specific settings for each analyte, including different resolution settings on both quadrupoles. In addition, it comes with a series of useful tools supporting the efficiency of the laboratory, for example the Thermo Scientific™ Hawk™ Consumables and Maintenance Assistant, as well as the built-in feature set for Quality Control monitoring. “We have created a custom alert to remind us to perform a detector set up and cross calibration regularly—for us, this is a key step in gathering the best data,” says Jean.

Based on the experience with the system, Jean Dumont is very happy with the iCAP MTX ICP-MS. “One thing I did not particularly like with previous generations of instruments was the peristaltic pump, but with the new EasyClick design, this is now eliminated. Sometimes tubings were changed just because of the schedule, not because they were worn out.”

All in all, the addition of the iCAP MTX ICP-MS has left a strong impression in the laboratory. “If a customer were to ask me for my opinion on the iCAP MTX ICP-MS, I would say to do it,” concludes Jean.