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3rd Edition of "Practical Guide to ICP-MS: 

A Tutorial for Beginners" 

April, 2014

I cannot believe that it has been 10 years since I published the first edition of this textbook and 5 years since the second edition was launched at the Pittsburgh Conference in 2009 What was originally intended as a series of tutorials on the basic principles of ICP-MS for Spectroscopy Magazine in 2002, quickly grew into a textbook focusing on the practical side of the technique. With over three thousand copies of the English version sold, a Chinese (Mandarin) book in print and negotiations underway with a South American publisher for Portuguese and Spanish versions, I’m very honored that the book has gained the reputation as being the reference book of choice for novices and beginners to the technique all over the world. Sales of the book have exceeded my wildest expectations. Of course, it helps when it is “recommended reading” for a Pittsburgh Conference ICP-MS Short Course I teach every year on “How to Select an ICP-MS.” It also helps when you get the visibility of your book being displayed at 15 different vendors’ booths at the PittCon every year. But there is no question in my mind that the major reason for its success is that it presents ICP-MS in a way that is very easy to understand for beginners, and also shows the practical benefits of the technique for carrying out routine trace element analysis.

However, 4 years is a long time for a book to remain current, even if sales of the book have not really declined over the past two years. For that reason, it made sense to not only write an updated version to represent the current state of the technology and applications being carried out, but also to incorporate all the great feedback I received from users and vendors over the past few years. I also didn't want to lose sight of the fact that its target audience was always going to be users who had just started with ICP-MS or analytical chemists who were thinking about investing in the technique. So with that in mind, I present to you the third edition of Practical Guide to ICP-MS: A Tutorial for Beginners. Below is a summary of the major changes from the second edition.

I have included one brand new chapter:

Emerging ICP-MS Applications including: “The analysis of flue gas desulfurization wastewaters”, “Fully automated analysis of seawater samples using on-line chemistry procedures” and “Characterization of engineered nanoparticles ( ENP ).” These are three of the most rapidly growing application areas for ICP-MS, particularly the explosion in interest in the use of engineered nanomaterials (ENM) such as carbon nanotubes, spherical buckyballs or metal-containing ones such as Ag and Au. For example, detergents containing silver nanoparticles are manufactured in order to kill bacteria. Unfortunately, these bactericides release silver at varying rates during the washing cycle, depending on the type of fabric and the washing conditions. As a result of the increased use of these products, nanoparticles are more likely to enter the environment. So in order to ensure the continued development of nanotechnology products, there is clearly a need to evaluate the risks posed by these engineered nanoparticles, which will require proper tools to carry out exposure assessment studies to better understand how they interact with soil, sediment, and water systems. This chapter will focus on the use of ICP-MS to characterize not only the chemical composition of these nanoparticles, but also their size and distribution.

There are also major rewrites and significant additions to the following sections

Commercial ICP-MS Instrumentation: There has been a great deal of activity in the number of new instrumentation introduced in the past four years. For that reason, I discuss all the new ICP-MS instruments/technology commercialized since my last textbook in 2008, including new offerings from Agilent Technologies, Bruker Daltonics, PerkinElmer Instruments, Spectro Analytical Instruments and Thermo Scientific. This is not covered in one particular chapter, but addressed in the relevant sections throughout the book

·    Glossary of ICP-MS Terms: An updated list of explanations and definitions of the most common words, expressions, and terms used in this book. Includes the addition of over one hundred new entries. Once again, a reminder that it is aimed specifically at beginners to use as a quick ­reference guide, without having to go looking for a more detailed explanation of the subject matter somewhere else in the book.

·       Alternative Sample Introduction Techniques: Non-standard sampling accessories like laser ablation systems, flow injection analyzers, cooled spray chambers, desolvation equipment, direct injection nebulizers, aerosol dilution techniques and automated sample delivery systems and dilutors are considered critical to enhancing the practical capabilities of the technique. Their use has increased significantly over the past few years as ICP-MS is being asked to solve more and more diverse application problems. This chapter reflects the increased interest in sampling accessories, especially in the area of specialized sample introduction and desolvation devices to reduce the impact of common interferences with complex sample matrices.

·       Common ICP-MS Applications: As ICP-MS is getting less expensive, it is being installed in more and more routine labs and, as a result, is being asked to solve more diverse application problems every year. In addition, the power of ­collision/reaction cell/interface technology is taking the technique into application areas that previously required high-resolution instrumentation to carry out the analysis. This chapter, while still emphasizing the most common routine-type analyses, also gives insight into additional applications being carried out in the environmental, clinical/biomedical and food chemistry fields; as well as new directives from the United States Pharmacopeia (USP) on the determination of elemental impurities in pharmaceutical products and dietary supplements.

·      How to Select an ICP-MS System: The Most Important Analytical Con­siderations: My experience of teaching this short course on this subject every year for the past ten years has given me a unique insight into the kinds of questions that most novices have when evaluating commercial instrumentation. This chapter focuses on the most important analytical considerations when going through the evaluation process, with particular emphasis on what I have learned from teaching my course over the past four years, especially as the application demands on the technique are continually evolving.

In addition, I have made minor modifications and additions to just about all the other chapters in the book to keep up with advancements in the technique and also to update to the “Useful Contacts” chapter to reflect mergers, acquisitions and changes in vendor expertise and contact information over the past 4 years.  

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