Analysis of pharmaceutical tablets by laser ablation inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry and mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-AES and LA-ICP-MS)

Abstract

Laser ablation was studied with inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectrometry (LA-ICP-AES) and with inductively coupled mass spectrometry (LA-ICP-MS) for the analysis of pharmaceutical tablets (10% and 20% Neusilin). For spot analysis with LA-ICP-AES, precision ranged from 12–31% relative standard deviation (RSD), but improved to 1–6% when ratios of signals were used. For continuous scanning, the precision ranged from 1–7% RSD. Weaker laser conditions required for ICP-MS gave precisions of 47–61% RSD (29% when signal ratios were used). Under unoptimized conditions, the detection limits for LA-ICP-AES of tablets were 70 µg g⁻¹ for Al and 20 µg g⁻¹ for Mg. The detection limits for LA-ICP-MS were 40 µg g⁻¹ for Al and 6 µg g⁻¹ for Mg. These results suggest that LA-ICP spectroscopy may find application in tablet analysis.