Simultaneous determination of oxygen, nitrogen and hydrogen in metals by pulse heating and time of flight mass spectrometric method.
The inert gas fusion and infrared absorption and thermal conductivity methods are widely used for quantitative determination of oxygen(O), nitrogen(N) and hydrogen(H) in metals. However, O, N and H cannot be determined simultaneously with this method in most cases and the sensitivity cannot meet the requirement of some new metal materials. Furthermore, there is no equipment or method reported for determination of Argon(Ar) or Helium(He) in metals till now. In this paper, a new method for simultaneous quantitative determination of O, N, H and Ar(or He) in metals has been described in detail, which combined the pulse heating inert gas fusion with time of flight mass spectrometric detection. The whole analyzing process was introduced, including sample retreatment, inert gas fusion, mass spectral line selection, signal acquisition, data processing and calibration. The detection limit, lower quantitative limit and linear range of each element were determined. The accuracy and precision of the new method have also been verified by measurements of several kinds of samples. The results were consistent with that obtained by the traditional method. It has shown that the new method is more sensitive and efficient than the existing method.
Cyanide toxicokinetics: the behavior of cyanide, thiocyanate and 2-amino-2-thiazoline-4-carboxylic acid in multiple animal models.
Cyanide causes toxic effects by inhibiting cytochrome c oxidase, resulting in cellular hypoxia and cytotoxic anoxia, and can eventually lead to death. Cyanide exposure can be verified by direct analysis of cyanide concentrations or analyzing its metabolites, including thiocyanate (SCN(-)) and 2-amino-2-thiazoline-4-carboxylic acid (ATCA) in blood. To determine the behavior of these markers following cyanide exposure, a toxicokinetics study was performed in three animal models: (i) rats (250-300 g), (ii) rabbits (3.5-4.2 kg) and (iii) swine (47-54 kg). Cyanide reached a maximum in blood and declined rapidly in each animal model as it was absorbed, distributed, metabolized and eliminated. Thiocyanate concentrations rose more slowly as cyanide was enzymatically converted to SCN(-). Concentrations of ATCA did not rise significantly above the baseline in the rat model, but rose quickly in rabbits (up to a 40-fold increase) and swine (up to a 3-fold increase) and then fell rapidly, generally following the relative behavior of cyanide. Rats were administered cyanide subcutaneously and the apparent half-life (t1/2) was determined to be 1,510 min. Rabbits were administered cyanide intravenously and the t1/2 was determined to be 177 min. Swine were administered cyanide intravenously and the t1/2 was determined to be 26.9 min. The SCN(-) t1/2 in rats was 3,010 min, but was not calculated in rabbits and swine because SCN(-) concentrations did not reach a maximum. The t1/2 of ATCA was 40.7 and 13.9 min in rabbits and swine, respectively, while it could not be determined in rats with confidence. The current study suggests that cyanide exposure may be verified shortly after exposure by determining significantly elevated cyanide and SCN(-) in each animal model and ATCA may be used when the ATCA detoxification pathway is significant.
Orthogonal electron impact source for a time-of-flight mass spectrometer with high mass resolving power
A compact orthogonal ion source has been developed for the gas analysis in time-of-flight mass spectrometers with the goal to use such a system for the investigation of cometary gases. An extraordinary mass resolving power of m/Dm $ 10 000 and low detection limits have been obtained in a 1.3 m long instrument. (Int J Mass Spectrom 185/186/187 (1999) 221‐226) © 1999 Elsevier Science B.V.