[Determination of 27 inorganic elements in Limonium bicolor by ICP-MS using microwave digestion for sample...

An inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) for determination of the contents of 27 inorganic elements in Limonium bicolor after microwave digestion of the sample was developed. The accuracy of the method was evaluated by the analysis of corresponding inorganic elements in standard reference materials (GBW 07605), and matrix effect and signal drift were compensated by using the internal standard elements (Ge, In and Bi). By applying the proposed method, the contents of 27 inorganic elements in Limonium bicolor collected from Dongying (Shandong Province of China) were determined. The precision of measurement ranges from 1.5% to 9.7% in terms of relative standard deviation. The recoveries and the limits of detection are in the range of 92.4%-107.2% and 0.002-0.081 microg x L(-1), respectively. It is indicated that the proposed method has the advantages of simplicity, speediness and sensitivity. The results showed that the Limonium bicolor are rich in major elements Na, K, Ca and Mg and trace elements Fe, Mn, Zn, Cr and Cu. This paper provides scientific basis for deeply studying the relation between the inorganic elements and the drug effects of Limonium bicolor.