Young analytical scientists 2014

This is the fourth special issue featuring young analytical scientists (YAS) in JAAS, and follows similar issues organized by Spiros A. Pergantis in 2002, 2006, and 2010. The aim of the YAS issues is to highlight the work of outstanding young scientists in atomic spectrometry and related areas. Authors are either outstanding graduate students, postdoctoral fellows, researchers in their first industrial appointment or young analytical faculty. They were nominated by worldwide experts in the field including members of the Editorial Board and Advisory Board of JAAS. My sincere thanks go to all colleagues for taking their time to nominate this year's YAS authors.

It is a great honour for me to be writing an Editorial for JAAS—something I would never have envisaged a few years ago. In 2007, a third-year graduate student at the time, I received a JAAS poster award at the European Winter Conference on Plasma Spectrochemistry (organized by Maria Betti and Joseph A. Caruso) in Taormina, Italy. This prize included a free subscription to JAAS and was of great value for me because journal access through my institution was limited. For the first time, I could study the work of famous experts in the field in a fast and efficient way. The poster award also resulted in a number of inspiring conversations at the conference dinner. I remember having a stimulating discussion with my later postdoc advisor Gary M. Hieftje, while next to us Detlef Günther was playing the piano. What a wonderful experience! What a great community!

Looking at the previous YAS issues, it is noted with great pleasure that a number of young scientists were hired as new analytical faculty. I do hope that this trend continues and that young scientists in analytical atomic spectrometry and related fields will have a bright future and their impact on the analytical community as a whole.

In this YAS issue, the articles span a broad range from fundamental studies to novel concepts and exciting applications. Fundamental studies are important to both understand and improve existing methods or to develop new instrumentation. In this arena, time-of-flight mass analysers (TOFMS) are attractive because they enable multi-element detection capabilities in fast transients but also time-resolved studies of fundamental processes in the ICP. Here, diffusion and velocity-driven spatial separation of analytes is reported using a prototype ICP-TOFMS and single droplet sample introduction.¹ In recent years, computer modelling has become more and more important and consequently is a part of this issue. Occurrence of gas flow rotational motion inside the ICP torch under the influence of a mass spectrometer interface is shown computationally and also validated experimentally.² 2D imaging is used to study the effect of moisture content in the carrier gas on the vaporization of laser-produced aerosols in the ICP.³ In a different study, the effect of spot size, laser fluence, and repetition rate of a fast-pulse femtosecond laser on ICP-MS performance is reported.⁴ Clearly, such studies help us to better understand the fundamentals in atomic spectrometry and ultimately lead to the development of improved analytical instrumentation.

Plasma-based sources have gained significant attention in the field of ambient desorption/ionization mass spectrometry, but studies on fundamental processes in such sources are still scarce. In this issue, a time-resolved study on the ion formation in a low-temperature plasma probe using a fast TOFMS is included.⁵ Surface elemental mapping possibilities of pulsed glow discharge (GD) sources attract interest of the GD community and thin film industry. Because large amounts of data are generated quickly and both signal-to-noise ratio and spatial resolution are important, the performance of different image denoising techniques is discussed in this issue.⁶

The fate of manufactured nanoparticles in the environment is of great concern and sensitive analytical methods are required to study relevant concentrations. Online species-unspecific isotope dilution can be used for quantification of silver nanoparticles with asymmetric field flow fractionation coupled to ICP-SF-MS.⁷ On the other hand, nanoparticles can also be attractive tools in new applications. For example, gold nanoparticles are reported to be useful for in-atomizer trapping of mercury on the inner wall of a quartz tube atomizer for preconcentration.⁸

Several papers by YAS authors describe interesting applications including (a) analyses of petroleum products and biofuels using a heated Torch Integrated Sample Introduction System (hTISIS) coupled to ICP-MS,⁹ (b) use of collision cell/kinetic energy discrimination in ICP-QMS for the reduction of undesired interferences in urine samples,¹⁰ (c) ultra-trace analysis in a raw material for polyurethane production using direct sampling graphite furnace atomic absorption spectrometry,¹¹ and (d) determination of radioactive cesium isotopes with ICP-QQQ-MS.¹²

Sample preparation and sample introduction is often key to successful analyses. Several papers contribute to this area of active research with studies on the efficacy of different digestion methods in different biological¹³ and pharmaceutical matrices¹⁴ and direct sample introduction using electrothermal vaporization coupled to ICP-MS after dispersive liquid–liquid microextraction.¹⁵ As an alternative method to closed vessel microwave assisted digestion, a flow digestion system is described that can be used to digest samples at high pressures.¹⁶ Also, the current trends in trace metal preconcentration in clinical samples are reviewed with a focus on elemental analysis.¹⁷

Because of its excellent quantification capabilities, ICP-MS is becoming more and more important in applied and interdisciplinary studies. In this issue, Schwarz et al.¹⁸ review the current status and limitations of a DOTA-based (1,4,7,10-tetraazacyclododecane N,N′,N′′,N′′-tetraacetic acid) labelling strategy for protein and peptide quantification. Last, Lara Lobo et al.¹⁹ demonstrate that provenancing ancient glass is feasible using variations in the isotopic composition of Cu and Sb determined by ICP-SF-MS. I would like to note that this paper is part of the online themed YAS issue and was selected for the cover of the January 2014 issue.

In closing, I would like to acknowledge all colleagues for their excellent nominations and all referees for taking their time to review the submissions. Special thanks are due to May Copsey and the Editorial Board of JAAS for giving me the opportunity to organize this issue. Also, I would like to acknowledge the JAAS Editorial Staff, and Paola Quattroni in particular, for their hard work organising and publishing this year's YAS issue. Last, I would like to thank all the authors that submitted papers for review. I wish all of them success in their future industrial or academic careers.

In my capacity as guest editor but also former atomic section program chair of the SCIX conference (2011–2013), I would like to thank JAAS and the Royal Society of Chemistry for their continuous support of young scientists through poster awards, travel grants, themed symposia at international meetings, and last but not least the YAS issues.

References

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19. L. Lobo, P. Degryse, A. Shortland, K. Eremin and F. Vanhaecke, J. Anal. At. Spectrom., 2014, 29, 58–64,  10.1039/c3ja50303h.

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