JAAS News

Evans et al., J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, Advance Article

In this HOT paper, Jane Evans from NERC Isotope Geosciences Laboratory, Nottingham, UK, and colleagues report strontium and oxygen isotope data from human tooth enamel excavated from Britain. The archaeological remains dated back 6000 years. Isotopic compositions of strontium and oxygen are used by archaeologists to determine the residential origins of our human ancestors, with the old saying ‘you are what you eat and drink’ proving quite accurate! Click through here to read their paper. It will be free to read for 2 weeks.

A summary of strontium and oxygen isotope variation in archaeological human tooth enamel excavated from Britain
J. A. Evans, C. A. Chenery and J. Montgomery
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2JA10362A

Carsten Engelhard and colleagues from the University of Münster, Germany, have been testing the analytical performance of three different sample introduction systems in regards to the characterization of silver nanoparticles. There is a growing amount of environmental concern about the risks of engineered nanomaterials. In order to provide accurate risk assessments and advise on policies, it is important to be able to accurately characterize nanomaterials in a quick and sensitive way. Click through and take a look at their research in this area, now published with JAAS.

Engelhard et al., J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, Advance Article

Single particle inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry: evaluation of three different pneumatic and piezo-based sample introduction systems for the characterization of silver nanoparticles
Bastian Franze, Ingo Strenge and Carsten Engelhard
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2JA00003B

This article will be free to read for 2 weeks!

It’s been a busy year already with so many great articles, so here are some HOT articles from JAAS that you might have missed this month!

Why not take a look, they will be free to read for 2 weeks.

Roman glass across the Empire: an elemental and isotopic characterization
Monica Ganio, Sara Boyen, Thomas Fenn, Rebecca Scott, Sofie Vanhoutte, Domingo Gimeno and Patrick Degryse
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2JA10355A

Mapping changes in helium sensitivity and peak shape for varying parameters of a Nier-type noble gas ion source
Jennifer Mabry, Peter Burnard, Pierre-Henri Blard and Laurent Zimmermann
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C2JA10339G

The role of secondary discharge formation and the physical and chemical processes occurring in the supersonic expansion with respect to NdO+ formation are discussed.

In this new article Karla Newman of the Water Quality Centre at Trent University, Peterborough, Canada, reports on the relative elemental sensitivities for a number of sample and skimmer cone combinations.  She looked at standard and enhanced pumping of the interface region for the Thermo Scientific Neptune MC-ICP-MS.

An improved understanding of the mass fractionation behaviour of Nd on different MC-ICP-MS instrument platforms is important for the application of Nd in geochronology and provenance studies and will also contribute to a wider understanding of the origins of instrumental mass fractionation in ICP-MS.

Read the paper in full here:

Effects of the sampling interface in MC-ICP-MS: Relative elemental sensitivities and non-linear mass dependent fractionation of Nd isotopes
Karla Newman
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1JA10222B

Take a look at Dr Newman’s previous work in JAAS:

High sensitivity skimmers and non-linear mass dependent fractionation in ICP-MS
Karla Newman, Philip A. Freedman, Jamie Williams, Nick S. Belshaw and Alex N. Halliday
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2009, 24, 742-751
DOI: 10.1039/B819065H

You may also be interested in this article:

Technical Note: From volcanic rock powder to Sr and Pb isotope ratios: a fit-for-purpose procedure for multi-collector ICP–mass spectrometric analysis
Ingrid Smet, David De Muynck, Frank Vanhaecke and Marlina Elburg
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2010, 25, 1025-1032
DOI: 10.1039/B926335G

In this new article, Martin Schiller, Chad Paton and Martin Bizzarro of the Centre for Star and Planet Formation at the University of Copenhagen report a novel approach for the chemical purification of Ca from silicate rocks by ion-exchange chromatography, and a highly-precise method for the isotopic analysis of Ca by high-resolution multiple collector inductively coupled plasma source mass spectrometry (HR-MC-ICPMS), in combination with thermal ionization mass spectrometry (TIMS).

Read the article in full here:

Calcium isotope measurement by combined HR-MC-ICPMS and TIMS
Martin Schiller, Chad Paton and Martin Bizzarro
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C1JA10272A

Take a look at this other paper from the same authors, published earlier in 2011:

High-precision Mg-isotope measurements of terrestrial and extraterrestrial material by HR-MC-ICPMS—implications for the relative and absolute Mg-isotope composition of the bulk silicate Earth
Martin Bizzarro, Chad Paton, Kirsten Larsen, Martin Schiller, Anne Trinquier and David Ulfbeck
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2011, 26, 565-577
DOI: 10.1039/C0JA00190B

You may also be interested in this article:

Separation of Mg, Ca and Fe from geological reference materials for stable isotope ratio analyses by MC-ICP-MS and double-spike TIMS
Frank Wombacher, Anton Eisenhauer, Alexander Heuser and Stefan Weyer
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2009, 24, 627-636
DOI: 10.1039/B820154