The application of inductively coupled plasma time-of-flight mass spectrometers (ICP-TOFMS) coupled to electrothermal vaporization (ETV) presents several unique analytical opportunities for isotopic analysis. This dissertation explores several subjects that utilize these characteristics in specific analytical applications. The viability of using the thermal programming abilities of the ETV in order to separate Rb and Sr is explored. These elements are isobaric at m/z 87, and must normally be separated prior to analysis for isotopic studies. Their disparate thermal properties allow them to be separated in time by the ETV allowing for simpler, faster isotope ratio analysis with less opportunity for contamination. A test case using standard potassium feldspar is found to produce moderately accurate and precise results. TOF instruments are of interest for isotope ratio analysis due to inherent isotope ratio precision. However, it has been observed that when operated in the analog data collection mode the isotope ratios observed possess a previously uncharacterized inaccuracy. This bias is rooted in variable detection efficiency of arriving ions, which can be corrected for with an algorithm described within. A method of determining the effective detector efficiency as a function of signal is presented, as well as an evaluation of the effectiveness of ratio correction. The use of ETV with TOF for isotope dilution analysis is explored. Correction of transient signals for efficiency effects is discussed, as well as the viability of using the autosampler for mixing of the solution and spike. A final study presents explores the combination of the ETV and TOF for analysis of a large number of elements from a brief transient signal. A library of peptide covered beads is analyzed for binding capacity to a variety of metals. Solutions containing metals stripped from the beads are analyzed to determine the binding capacity and specificity of the peptide sequence. The beads themselves are also analyzed for metal content using the ETV as an indicator of the efficiency of metal stripping off of the beads. / text

published_or_final_version / abstract / toc / Chemistry / Master / Master of Philosophy

Thesis (M.Sc.) - Carleton University, 2006. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 85-86). Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2008. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Parmi les systèmes dédiés à l’analyse directe des solides, la vaporisation électrothermique occupe une place de choix. Elle offre plusieurs avantages. Le temps de préparation des échantillons est considérablement réduit. Il n’y a pas de dilution induite par la minéralisation et les risques de pertes ou de contaminations durant cette étape sont éliminés. Son principe de fonctionnement consiste à transformer, par chauffage, quelques milligrammes d’échantillon en un aérosol, qui est ensuite transporté dans un spectromètre d’émission atomique par plasma à couplage inductif, où la composition élémentaire est mesurée. Une première étude fondamentale a permis de mieux comprendre la dynamique de l’aérosol formé et de définir les meilleures conditions opératoires. L’utilisation de cette technique pour la détermination élémentaire dans les végétaux a présenté cependant des difficultés supplémentaires : difficulté d’étalonnage, effets de matrice et grandes variabilités sur les concentrations mesurées. L’utilisation d’un support de cellulose pour les solutions étalons a permis d’harmoniser les conditions de formation de l’aérosol pour l’échantillon et pour l’étalon, et d’obtenir ainsi des résultats justes. Les effets de matrices ont pu être considérablement réduits par une calcination préalable des échantillons. Le manque de précision des mesures, causée par le manque d’homogénéité des échantillons, a pu être limitée en de réduisant significativement la taille des particules solides. Ces résultats obtenus sur des poudres ont permis d’autres applications comme l’analyse d’échantillons entiers ou la cartographie de la composition chimique d’organes végétaux. / Among the systems dedicated to the direct analysis of the solids, electrothermal vaporization takes up a place of choice. It offers several advantages. The preparation time of the samples is considerably reduced. There is no dilution induced by the digestion and the risks of losses or contaminations during this stage are eliminated. Its functioning consists to convert, by heating, a few milligrams of sample into an aerosol which is then transported in an inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometer, where the elemental composition of the sample is determinate. A first fundamental study allowed to better understand the dynamics of the formed aerosol and to define the best operating conditions. However, the use of this technique to determine the elemental composition of solid plant samples presented additional difficulties: difficulty of calibration, matrix effects and important imprecision on the measured concentrations. The use of a cellulose support for the standard solutions allowed to harmonize the formation of the aerosol between the sample and the standard, and to obtain accurate results. The matrix effects can be considerably reduced by a preliminary dry-ashing of the samples. The variability of measurements, caused by the lack of homogeneity of the samples, was limited by reducing significantly the size of the solid particles. These results, obtained on powders, allowed other applications as the analysis of whole plant samples or the imaging of the chemical composition of plant organs.

Submitted by Rosangela Silva (rosangela.silva3@unioeste.br) on 2017-08-30T14:53:20Z No. of bitstreams: 2 Ana Julia Penteado.pdf: 1485037 bytes, checksum: 723d1b3bedb90392ef459d2a4cedeca8 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-08-30T14:53:20Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 2 Ana Julia Penteado.pdf: 1485037 bytes, checksum: 723d1b3bedb90392ef459d2a4cedeca8 (MD5) license_rdf: 0 bytes, checksum: d41d8cd98f00b204e9800998ecf8427e (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-02-07 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES / Lithium carbonate is the main drug used to treat bipolar disorder. This medicine has a narrow therapeutic range and is usually used in a chronic way by the patients, generating the need for therapeutic monitoring by means of plasma lithium quantification. In addition, records of toxic effects from chronic medical use reinforce the need for a tool that assists in the treatment. Thus, a reliable methodology for the quantification of lithium and a therapeutic adjuvant emerge as a means to improve the quality of life of the patient. In our work, we used the flame atomic absorption spectrometer to validate the method for quantification of lithium and the results were satisfactory, because they complied with the required criteria, assuring the reliability of the method. In order to find a therapeutic adjuvant, N-acetylcysteine (NAC) was studied for presenting important characteristics against the toxic effects caused by lithium. In our results lithium presented toxic effects mainly inducing oxidative stress, while the coadministration of NAC reversed this effect in the liver, kidney and brain organs. The use of NAC as a therapeutic adjuvant has been shown to be promising, however, further studies need to be performed to better understand this relationship. / O carbonato de lítio é o principal medicamento utilizado no tratamento do transtorno bipolar. Este medicamento possuí estreita faixa terapêutica e geralmente é utilizado de forma crônica pelos pacientes, gerando a necessidade da monitorização terapêutica por meio da quantificação plasmática de lítio. Além disso, os registros de efeitos tóxicos decorrentes do uso medicinal crônico remetem a necessidade de uma ferramenta que auxilie no tratamento. Desta forma, uma metodologia confiável para a quantificação de lítio e um adjuvante terapêutico surgem como meios de melhorar a qualidade de vida do paciente. Em nosso trabalho, utilizamos o espectrômetro de absorção atômica de chama para validar um método para quantificação de lítio e os resultados foram satisfatórios, pois cumpriram os critérios exigidos, assegurando a confiabilidade do método. Com foco em buscar um adjuvante terapêutico, a N-acetilcisteína (NAC) foi estudada por apresentar características importantes contra os efeitos tóxicos causados pelo lítio. Em nossos resultados o lítio apresentou efeitos tóxicos principalmente induzindo o estresse oxidativo, enquanto que a coadministração de NAC reverteu esse efeito nos órgãos fígado, rim e cérebro. O uso da NAC como adjuvante terapêutico mostrou ser promissor, porém, mais estudos precisam ser realizados para entender melhor essa relação.

Obsidian has been a center of interest both for geologists and archaeologists. Geologists have studied on physical and chemical properties of obsidian where archaeologists have worked on this material as a common artifact found in excavations. In this study, obsidian samples from &Ccedil / atalh&ouml / y&uuml / k excavations are examined using their rare earth element (REE) concentrations. Inductively Coupled Plasma-Optical Emission Spectrometry (ICP-OES) have been used for this purpose. A mixture (4:1) of lithium metaborate and lithium tetraborate was used for fusion of samples. Because of the low concentrations of REEs, a preconcentration step is needed. Successful recovery results have been achieved with Amberlite IR-120. The developed method is tested using the standard reference material SARM-1.

In analytical chemistry the main goal is normally to determine the identity and/or concentration of one or more species in a sample. The samples analyzed are often natural samples, containing numerous different species in a complex matrix and the choice of technique for multi-elemental detection is in general inductively coupled plasma spectrometry. The chemical forms of an element can affect many of its characteristics e.g. toxicity, which makes speciation analysis important. Therefore, determination of the identity and quantity of an element is still important, but for many applications measurements of total element concentration provides insufficient information. To be able to perform speciation analysis, separation, identification and/or characterization of the various forms of elements in the sample has to be accomplished. Speciation analysis has been employed in a wide range of disciplines, including for example environmental science, biology and clinical chemistry. This thesis describes work to improve and understand the elemental speciation analysis with liquid chromatography coupled to plasma spectrometry and also highlights the importance and potential of the synergy between atomic spectrometry and molecular mass spectrometry. The combination of the matrix tolerant, robust and very sensitive plasma spectrometry used together with molecular mass spectrometry, which provides structural information and the possibility to identify unknown species, is demonstrated to be a very powerful tool for speciation analysis. In this thesis methods are developed for on-line sample clean-up and pre-concentration coupled to liquid chromatography and plasma spectrometry, which makes handling of small sample volumes easier and also decreases the risk of contamination. The problems associated with organic modifiers in plasma spectrometry are also addressed. Applications of speciation analysis are exemplified by analysis of aluminium-chelated siderophores in field-soil solutions and organic phosphorous species in aquatic sediments. The possibility to analyze un-dissolved samples as slurries with minimal sample preparation is also discussed.

Le contexte de cette thèse est la production du vecteur énergétique hydrogène par thermolyse de la vapeur d’eau consistant en la dissociation de la molécule H2O en oxygène (O) et hydrogène (H). Le dispositif employé est une torche à plasma d’arc non transféré développée au LAEPT. Après l’exposition de la théorie sur la physique des plasmas et la spectrométrie d’émission atomique nécessaire à l’exploitation des mesures, cette thèse présente l’évolution de la torche à plasma ainsi que son environnement nécessitée par la présence de gaz instables et explosifs. Les mesures des différentes grandeurs électriques, hydrauliques et spéctrométriques ont permis la détermination des caractéristiques physique et chimique d’un plasma formé d’un mélange de vapeur d’eau – d’argon. La détermination de grandeurs telles que la température du jet plasma, la conductivité électrique, l’enthalpie massique et la densité électronique, est basée sur la comparaison entre expérimentation et théorie. / The context of this thesis is the production of hydrogen as an energy vector by steam thermolysis consisting in the dissociation of H2O molecule into oxygen (O) and hydrogen (H). The process used is a plasma torch device developed by the LAEPT. After presenting the theory of plasma physics and atomic emission spectroscopy which will help to make the most of the measured realized, this thesis will show the evolution of the plasma torch device and the experimental environment required to work with explosive and unstable gases. Some measurements like electrical, hydraulic and spectroscopy magnitudes made it possible to determine the chemical and physical characteristics of a water vapor – argon plasma. A comparison between experiments and theoretical knowledge will enable to determine the temperature of a flow of plasma, electrical conductivity, enthalpy and the electronic density.

Dependence of glutathione concentration on the amount of thallium in the plant was studied. Observed plant was maize (Zea mays) which was divided to two parts – root and overground. Two culture procedures were elaborated where seeds and young seedlings were cultivated in a solution of thallium of concentration 0, 1, 3, 5, 8, a 10 µmol/l. Extraction agents used during extraction were phosphate buffer and solution of ascorbic acid. Determination of glutathione was realized by capillary electrophoresis (CE) and high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). Diode array detector (DAD) was used in both methods. Quantification of the thallium amount in the plant was done by method of inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectrometry (ICP-AES).