JAAS News

Themed issue on Archaeometry now online

13 Apr 2012

JAAS 2012, Archaeometry themed issue, front cover

Front cover: Fan et al, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, 27, 821-826

The latest issue of JAAS features our themed issue on Archaeometry, Guest Edited by Patrick Degryse of the University of Leuven (KU Leuven), Leuven, Belgium.

The front cover is an article from this issue by Changsui Wang of the Institute of Vertebrate Paleontology and Paleoanthropology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China and co-workers. They performed analyses on an artifact of brass apparently predating the Bronze Age, which was unearthed at Jiangzhai site (China, Shaanxi Province, 4700-4000 BC) in order to infer the probable metallurgical process for the production of this early brass.

Brass before bronze? Early copper-alloy metallurgy in China
Xiaopan Fan, Garman Harbottle, Qiang Gao, Weirong Zhou, Qiming Gong, Hua Wang, Xiaohan Yu and Changsui Wang
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, 27, 821-826
DOI: 10.1039/C2JA10257A

Beijing Mass Spectrometry Annual Meeting—The Fifth Atomic Spectroscopy Workshop of China Held in Beijing

09 Apr 2012

By Nana.

The Beijing Mass Spectrometry Annual Meeting 2011 was organized by Beijing Physical & Chemistry Testing Technology Society and Beijing Society for Mass Spectrometry on March 30, 2012. During the meeting, the Fifth Atomic Spectroscopy Workshop of China was held. This is the fist professional workshop in China focused on basic research and applications of atomic spectroscopy, which was initiated by Zhi Xing in Tsinghua University Analysis Center. The workshop aims at providing an opportunity for the academic exchange, creating a close cooperation in a relaxing way, in the hope of promoting the development of analytical chemistry. Since 2010, the workshop has been held five times. The conventioneers, including scientists, researchers, and lab technicians of atomic spectrometry, come mainly from Analysis Center of Tsinghua University, Institute of High Energy Physics Chinese Academy of Science, Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry Chinese Academy of Science, National Institute of Metrology P.R. China, General Research Institute for Nonferrous Metals, National Research Center for Geoanalysis, CNNC Beijing Research Institute of Uranium Geology and some instrument manufacturers of China.

The latest research progress, experience on instrument usage, instrumental development, and applications in pharmaceutical, food, environmental and petrochemical analysis, among other fields, have been discussed in the workshop. In addition, relationships have been built on the sharing of standardized samples and special instruments, as well as on interlaboratory comparisons. This workshop is a key contributor for the development of atomic spectrometry analysis in China.

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HOT Article: Characterization of solid biofuels

03 Apr 2012

By Rebecca Brodie, Deputy Editor.

$Automatic dynamic chemical fractionation method with detection by plasma spectrometry for advanced characterization of solid biofuels$
Miro et al., J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, Advance Article

Manuel Miró from the University of the Balearic Islands, Spain, and colleagues have studied the advanced characterization of woody biofuels in an attempt to determine if firing biomass fuels will lead to potential corrosion risks in combustion devices. To accomplish this they devised a sequential injection (SI) stirred-flow chamber (SFC) extraction process as a front end to inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) analysis. Click through here to read more!

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HOT Article: Measuring isotopes in ancient human teeth

03 Apr 2012

By Rebecca Brodie, Deputy Editor.

A summary of strontium and oxygen isotope variation in archaeological human tooth enamel excavated from Britain

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.

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The Thermo-Hilger Award is now open for nominations!

30 Mar 2012

By Rebecca Brodie, Deputy Editor.

The Thermo-Hilger Award which is awarded by the RSC Atomic Spectroscopy Group is now open for nominations. Nominations are invited from members who use atomic spectroscopy regularly who are in the early stages of their career (must be under 35 at the end of 2012). The winner will be a scientist with a proven track record whom the committee judge to offer the greatest potential for the future.

Information about the bursary and the application form can be found here.

The closing date for applications is 30th April 2012, so send in your nominations now!

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HOT Article: Characterization of silver nanoparticles

30 Mar 2012

By Rebecca Brodie, Deputy Editor.

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!

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HOT Articles from JAAS

30 Mar 2012

By Rebecca Brodie, Deputy Editor.

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

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FACSS presents SCIX 2012 – Call for papers

26 Mar 2012

By Carsten Engelhard.

Abstract submission is open for the SCIX 2012 meeting presented by the Federation of Analytical Chemistry and Spectroscopy Societies (FACSS). SCIX will be held in Kansas City, MO, USA, from September 30 – October 5.

The submission deadline for abstracts that will be considered for oral presentation is April 20, 2012. Abstracts will be accepted until July 31 for poster presentations. Please visit http://scixconference.org for abstract submission and further information.

Steven Ray, SCIX 2012 Program Chair and coauthor of this entry, has identified several focal areas that will be highlighted in the 2012 program:

Current status of the analytical sciences: focus on human health (organized by RSC and ACS)
Atomic spectrometry and the analysis of nanomaterials
Speciation analysis: progress in trace metal speciation
New plasmas, new instrumentation, and new approaches at the frontier of atomic spectrometry
Isoscapes: redefining the landscape in the archaeological and geological sciences with high fidelity isotope ratio analysis
Sampling the world with laser ablation and atomic spectrometry
Chemistry in arts and archaeology
Novel sample introduction techniques and tools for atomic spectroscopy
Fundamental aspects of plasma spectrochemistry: using what we learn to improve analytical atomic spectrometry

Contributed sessions will be added to the program as space allows. If you do not see a program area above that fits your research focus, don’t let it stop you from submitting a paper!

We look forward to seeing you in Kansas City.

Carsten Engelhard
SCIX 2012 Atomic Spectroscopy Program Section Chair

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Pittcon 2012 – Orlando

23 Mar 2012

By Carsten Engelhard.

Exhibition floor

The 2012 Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry & Applied Spectroscopy, Pittcon, was held on March 11 – 14, 2012 in Orlando, Florida.

Over ~1,280 oral presentations and ~100 short courses on all aspects of analytical chemistry were presented.

Clearly, one highlight of the scientific program was the session entitled “Advancing analytical technologies for human health and security”, organized by Dr. May Copsey, Editor of the Analytical journals at RSC. Distinguished scientists Prof. Gary M. Hieftje, Prof. Joseph Caruso, Prof. R. Kenneth Marcus, Prof. Roy Goodacre, and Prof. Zheng Ouyang gave well-received lectures on their recent discoveries.

Prof. R. Graham Cooks, Purdue University, gave the Sunday plenary lecture and demonstrated how ambient ionization and miniaturized mass spectrometers can help to promote human health and forensics.

(You can find some recent examples of these authors’ work below – May Copsey, Ed.)



A number of new analytical instruments were launched at Pittcon. Of interest to a large number of JAAS readers might be the new iCAP Q ICP-MS, launched by Thermo Scientific on March 12. This new instrument comes shortly after the launch of Agilent’s new 8000 ICP-QQQ at the Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry in January 2012. Great to see that the ICP-MS market is back in motion again.

The RSC booth on the exhibition floor was very busy thanks to free coffee and – more importantly – the presence of RSC journal editors and staff. Many visitors stopped by to meet, greet, and to learn about new things at RSC.

Exhibition centre

Interestingly, the exhibition was smaller compared to previous years and major companies, namely Perkin Elmer and Agilent Technologies, skipped the show. In total, approx. 15,500 attendees visited the conference and expo.

If you attended the conference and would like to share your experience, please leave a comment below.

Pittcon 2013 will be held in Philadelphia, PA, March 17 – 21, 2013.

We look forward to seeing you in Philadelphia.

Of course, this is just a personal view and many more instruments from other companies are available as well. For more information please visit, e.g., the scientific instruments database provided by EVISA.

Articles of interest

Thermal mechanism for formation of electrical prepeak and pressure waves in a microsecond direct current pulsed glow discharge with a Grimm-type source: a modeling investigation
Maxim Voronov, V Hoffmann, Wolfgang Buscher, Carsten Engelhard, Steven J Ray and Gary M Hieftje
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI:10.1039/C2JA30014A

Significant proteins affecting cerebral vasospasm using complementary ICPMS and MALDI-MS
Renee N. Easter, Colin G. Barry, Gail Pyne-Geithman and Joseph A. Caruso
Metallomics, 2012, 4, 48-55
DOI: 10.1039/C1MT00079A

Systems level studies of mammalian metabolomes: the roles of mass spectrometry and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy
Warwick B. Dunn, David I. Broadhurst, Helen J. Atherton, Royston Goodacre and Julian L. Griffin
Chem. Soc. Rev., 2011, 40, 387-426
DOI: 10.1039/B906712B

Femtosecond laser ablation particle introduction to a liquid sampling-atmospheric pressure glow discharge ionization source
Anthony J. Carado, C. Derrick Quarles, Andrew M. Duffin, Charles J. Barinaga, Richard E. Russo, R. Kenneth Marcus, Gregory C. Eiden and David W. Koppenaal
J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2012, 27, 385-389
DOI: 10.1039/C2JA10331A

Rapid Analysis of Whole Blood by Paper Spray Mass Spectrometry for Point-of-Care Therapeutic Drug Monitoring
Ryan D Espy, Nicholas E Manicke, Zheng Ouyang and R. Graham Cooks
Analyst, 2012, Accepted Manuscript
DOI: 10.1039/C2AN35082C

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Themed issue on Archaeometry now online

Top Ten most-read JAAS articles in February

Beijing Mass Spectrometry Annual Meeting—The Fifth Atomic Spectroscopy Workshop of China Held in Beijing

HOT Article: Characterization of solid biofuels

HOT Article: Measuring isotopes in ancient human teeth

The Thermo-Hilger Award is now open for nominations!

HOT Article: Characterization of silver nanoparticles

HOT Articles from JAAS

FACSS presents SCIX 2012 – Call for papers

Pittcon 2012 – Orlando

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