[Inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry. Perspectives in analysis and in biology].

ICP-MS is an instrumental method of multi-elementary qualitative and quantitative analysis. It associates with a mass spectrometer (MS) an ion source composed of a plasma torch fed with inductive coupling with a high frequency electromagnetic generator (ICP), similar to that used as a light source in highly-successful Atomics Emission Spectrometry (AES). ICP-MS can be applied to simultaneous analysis of numerous metallic and metalloid elements (80 or so). Its sensitiveness is all in all far better than that available with previous spectrometric techniques, which nevertheless remain more advantageous for processing certain low atomic mass elements. Thanks to its broad dynamic range, ICP-MS allows quantification of an array of elementary concentrations within a single sample. ICP-MS offers particularly interesting perspectives in geochemistry and metal processing, as well as in biochemistry and food or toxicology and environmental analysis. Implementation is rapid and the technique is suitable for series or continuous analyses, or for analysis of any evolving medium such as effluents from gas or liquid chromatography or from capillary electrophoresis, making it a valuable tool for speciation analyses. Finally it enables non-radioactive isotopic labeling, essential for nutritional studies of trace elements, and sufficiently accurate isotopic dilutions, even with more accessible machines.