DETERMINATION OF ELEMENTS IN BIOLOGICAL AND BOTANICAL MATERIALS BY INDUCTIVELY-COUPLED PLASMA-ATOMIC EMISSION AND MASS-SPECTROMETRY AFTER EXTRACTION WITH A TERTIARY AMINE REAGENT

A simple inductively coupled plasma atomic emission and mass spectrome tric (ICP-AES and ICP-MS) analysis procedure for biological and botani cal materials was developed based on,an extraction with a:commercial, water-soluble tertiary amine solution, standard reference materials we re dispersed in a 10% v/v amine mixture at pH 8 and the resulting disp ersion was agitated for 30 min at room temperature. After centrifugati on, Al, Ca, Cu, Fe, Mg, Mn, Na, K and Zn were determined by ICP-AES an d As, Ba; Ca,: Cu, Pb, Mn, Mo, Rb, Se, Cr and Zn were determined by IC P-MS in the supernatant, Recoveries of nearly all elements in most sam ples were close to 100%, and no significant difference at a 95% confid ence level was found between determined and certified values. Low reco veries were-observed for Al-and Fe in all materials and for Ca in spin ach and apple leaves. The simple procedure is useful for screening pur poses in the analysis of biological and botanical materials.