Dual In-Syringe Microextraction with Electrothermal Vaporization (ETV) Inductively Coupled Plasma-Mass Spectrometry (ICP-MS) for Determination of Rare Earth Elements (REEs) in Food

In-syringe micro-solid phase extraction (IS-MSPE) was coupled with in-syringe vortex-assisted solidified floating organic drop microextraction (IS-VA-SFODME) for the determination of rare earth elements (REEs) by electrothermal vaporization inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry. Firstly, IS-MSPE was used for enriching REEs and eliminating the matrix components from samples. In the next step, the eluent from IS-MSPE was utilized for further enrichment of REEs by IS-VA-SFODME. This procedure exhibited high efficiency and good selectivity without tedious centrifugation/filtration operations. The primary factors affecting preconcentration, separation and determination of REEs were investigated. The enrichment factors (EFs) ranged from 267-fold to 523-fold for REEs. Under the optimized conditions, the detection limits for REEs were from 0.002 to 0.065 ng L--(1) with relative standard deviations between 4.6 and 9.1%. This method was used for the determination of REEs in food certified reference materials, and the determined results were in good agreement with the certified values.

Automated summary

In this study, the combination of IS-MSPE and IS-VA-SFODME technologies was used for the determination of REEs by ETV-ICP-MS, showing high efficiency and good selectivity without tedious operations, and the results were in agreement with certified values.