Slurry sampling flow injection chemical vapor generation inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry for the determination of As, Cd, and Hg in cereals.

A slurry sampling inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) method has been developed for the determination of As, Cd, and Hg in cereals using flow injection chemical vapor generation (VG) as the sample introduction system. A slurry containing 6% m/v flour, 0.7% m/v thiourea, 0.4 microg mL(-1) Co(II), and 2.5% v/v HCl was injected into a VG-ICP-MS system for the determination of As, Cd, and Hg without dissolution and mineralization. Because the sensitivities of the elements studied in the slurry and that of aqueous solution were quite different, a standard addition method and an isotope dilution method were used for the determination of As, Cd, and Hg in selected cereal samples. The influences of vapor generation conditions and slurry preparation on the ion signals were reported. The effectiveness of the vapor generation sample introduction technique in alleviating various spectral interferences in ICP-MS analysis has been demonstrated. This method has been applied for the determination of As, Cd, and Hg in NIST SRM 1567a Wheat Flour reference material, NIST SRM 1568a Rice Flour reference material, and cereal samples obtained from local market. The As, Cd, and Hg analysis results of the reference materials agreed with the certified values. The method detection limits estimated from standard addition curves were about 0.10, 0.16, and 0.07 ng g(-1) for As, Cd, and Hg, respectively, in the original cereal samples.