JAAS News

The first article to be published online from the upcoming themed issue on Synchrotron Radiation in Art and Archaeometry is a Technical Note from Christian Grunewald and co-workers from Berlin, Germany. In this HOT Article they demonstrate how the use of a microscope and an easy algorithm allows the fast determination of the existing geometry of an object being analysed by quantitative synchotron radiation induced X-ray fluorescence (SRXRF).

This themed issue, with Guest Editors Koen Janssens (University of Antwerp), Joris Dik (Delft University of Technology) and Robert van Langh (Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) will highlight the latest research in the area of synchrotron radiation in art and archaeometry.

Read this HOT Article online here.  Free until March 4^th!

SRXRF-measurements at non-planar objects: automatic determination of the angle of incidence of the exciting X-ray
Christian Grunewald, Martin Radtke, Uwe Reinholz, Günter Buzanich and Heinrich Riesemeier
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2011, Advance Article, Technical Note
DOI: 10.1039/C0JA00237B

Doucet et al. tackle the challenges of creating field portable technologies

In a JAAS paper highlighted by Chemistry World, François Doucet and colleagues have combined LIBS with chemometrics to design a portable forensic device to detect nuclear isotopes intended for use in weapons.  The method has been miniaturised without compromising its sensitivity, making it suitable for use by nuclear safeguard inspectors travelling the world.

Read Rebecca Brodie’s full news article online, or access the full paper:

Determination of isotope ratios using Laser-Induced Breakdown Spectroscopy in ambient air at atmospheric pressure for nuclear forensics
François R. Doucet, Gregg Lithgow, Rick Kosierb, Paul Bouchard and Mohamad Sabsabi, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2011
DOI: 10.1039/c0ja00199

Don’t forget you can share your thoughts on this paper below.  Or perhaps you’d like to say something more generally about nuclear isotope detection or the field of miniaturisation.  Either way, please post your comments below: we look forward to hearing from you!

A whole blood certified reference material has been developed

Some attention for a hot-off-the-press Technical Note looking at mercury speciation in caprine blood, which has been written up by Evisa.

Find out more by taking a look at the paper:

Technical Note: Measurements of methylmercury, ethylmercury, and inorganic mercury species in a whole blood standard reference material: SRM 955c—Toxic Elements in Caprine Blood
W. Clay. Davis and Stephen E. Long
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2011, Advance Article
DOI: 10.1039/C0JA00175A

Read the latest Hot Articles in JAAS!

Kay Niemax and colleagues from the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Berlin and the University of Dortmund show that end-on ICP-OES can be used to examine the relative mass distribution in a sample of SiO2 particles.

Measurement of element mass distributions in particle ensembles applying ICP-OES
Ayrat Murtazin, Sebastian Groh and Kay Niemax
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2010, 25, 1395-1401
http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C004946H

Jiubin Chen and colleagues from Trent University, Canada describe a new method which allows the measurement of Hg isotope composition in freshwater samples.

Chromatographic pre-concentration of Hg from dilute aqueous solutions for isotopic measurement by MC-ICP-MS 
Jiubin Chen, Holger Hintelmann and Brian Dimock
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2010, 25, 1402-1409
http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C0JA00014K

These articles will be free to access for 4 weeks.

Continuing the 25th anniversary celebrations for JAAS, Hiroki Haraguchi and JAAS Editorial Board member, Naoki Furuta provide a detailed account of how the field analytical atomic spectrometry has developed in Japan over the last 25 years. This includes key contributors and landmark events and they also consider the prospects for area in the future.

Read this Editorial in the latest issue of JAAS:

Analytical atomic spectrometry in Japan over the last 25 years
Hiroki Haraguchi and Naoki Furuta
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2010, 25, 1371-1377
http://dx.doi.org/10.1039/C005496H

Naoki Furuta

Hiroki Haraguchi