Titanium determination in human blood plasma by ICP-OES, longitudinally, and transversally heated Zeeman ETAAS

Abstract

A method was developed to determine the amount of titanium in human blood plasma by inductively coupled plasma optical emission spectrometry (ICP-OES) and Zeeman electro-thermal atomic absorbance spectrometry (ETAAS) following dilution of the plasma samples. An echelle based ICP-OES system shows excellent results in the determination of titanium in blood plasma if a 1+99 dilution of the samples with water and an ultrasonic nebulizer is used. No matrix interference could be observed. Furthermore, a comparison of a longitudinally heated Zeeman ETAAS with a transversally heated instrument showed that with the transversally heated tube the typical peak tailing, evoked by titanium as a refractory element, can be minimized. Suitable results in the determination of titanium could be obtained with both AAS systems. However, the use of complex temperature–time programs is necessary. The transversally heated furnace suffers from memory effects of the plasma samples. As a result, the ICP-OES is better suited than the transversally heated Zeeman furnace technique, owing to lack of formation of carbides and less matrix effects.