Atomic spectrometry update: review of advances in elemental speciation

Abstract

This is the 18th Atomic Spectrometry Update (ASU) to focus on advances in elemental speciation and covers a period of approximately 12 months from January 2025. This ASU review deals with all aspects of analytical atomic spectrometry speciation methods developed for: the determination of oxidation states; organometallic compounds; coordination compounds; metal- and heteroatom-containing biomolecules, including metalloproteins, proteins, peptides and amino acids; and the use of metal tagging to facilitate detection via atomic spectrometry. As with all ASU reviews, the focus of the research reviewed includes those methods that incorporate atomic spectrometry as the measurement technique, although molecular detection techniques are also included where they have provided a complementary approach to speciation analysis. The number of publications covered this year has fallen to the lowest number since this ASU has been published. However, there is still a good breadth of elements covered, with the most popular elements still being As, Hg and Se, and the focus of many papers is on elucidating mechanisms and transformation pathways, particularly in plants and animals/humans, rather than concentrating on the speciation method. A number of papers covering speciation analyses of elements related to nuclear power generation have been published, which reflects the increasing demand for this power source in the global efforts to decarbonise. There has also been a report on the use of XRF spectroscopy as a detector for LC and three papers of note that describe comprehensive methods for metallobiomolecules. Once again, the quality of the abstract for many of the papers is poor, with detail on the methodology, key results with data included, conclusions and implications thereof missing. This is likely to lead to fewer researchers reading the article or considering it for reviews such as those produced by the ASU.