Total and species-specific quantitative analyses of trace elements in sediment by isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry

Isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ID-ICP-MS) is one of the reliable methods for total and species-specific quantitative analysis of trace elements. However, several technical problems (e.g. spectral interference caused from sample constituents) should be overcome to obtain reliable analytical results when environmental samples are analyzed by ID-ICP-MS. In our laboratory, various methods based on ID-ICP-MS have been investigated for reliable quantitative analyses of trace elements in environmental samples. In this paper, coprecipitate separation/ID-ICP-MS for the determination of trace elements in sediment, cation exchange disk filtration/ID-ICP-MS for the determination of selenium in sediment, species-specific ID-ICP-MS using 118Sn/labeled organotin compounds for the determination of butyltins and phenyltins, and the application of the ID-ICP-MS methods to the certification of sediment reference materials are described. (author)