Acid retardation method in analysis of strongly acidic solutions by inductively coupled plasma mass-spectrometry.

Acid retardation on the sorbents as a technique for reduction of the acidity of the solutions prior to their analysis by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry was proposed and investigated. The proposed scheme provides substantial separation of the analytes and nitric acid, which allows direct introduction of the eluates in plasma without dilution. Two sorbents were examined - AV-17 anion-exchange resin and the Stirosorb 584 sorbent. Sorption and desorption of 38 elements on these sorbents were investigated. The efficiencies of the REEs' sorption on the anion-exchange and neutral sorbents were compared. The higher efficiency of the REEs and HNO3 separation was revealed for the neutral Stirosorb 584 sorbent. It was also found that most elements come out quantitatively of the column filled with the AV-17 resin after pumping 2-4mL of the solution. Wherein, the concentration of nitric acid decreased by 20 times. The anomalous behaviour of Ag, Pb, Th and U on the AV-17 resin was found. These analytes were eluted only after pumping 4 column volumes of deionized water. Na, K, Fe, Al and Li in concentrations within (50-1000mgL(-1)) range did not affect the recovery of REEs. The potential of ARM technique was demonstrate by the analysis of puriss. HNO3 and silverware. ARM enables to avoid dilution of highly acidic solutions prior to their introduction in ICP-MS.

Investigation of the new sorption preconcentration systems for determination of noble metals in rocks by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry.

The reversible sorption preconcentration of noble metals (NMs) prior to their determination by inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was investigated. Six new hypercrosslinked polystyrene sorbents were tested. The dependence of the degree of NMs sorption on the average degree of polymer network crosslinking and pore diameters was investigated. It was found that sorbents HP-100/6, HP-300/6 and HP-500/6 have low efficiency of NMs chlorocomplexes extraction. Among Stirosorb sorbents (Stirosorb-2, Stirosorb-514 and Stirosorb-584) the highest efficiency of the extraction of NMs' chlorocomplexes has Stirosorb-514. Tributylamine (TBA), N-methylbenzylamine (MBA), N,N-dimethylbenzylamine (DMBA), N,N-dibenzylmetylamine (DBMA) were studied as the reagents for extraction of Ru, Rh, Pd, Ir, Pt and Au chlorocomplexes from hydrochloric acid solutions in the form of ion associates by reversed-phase mechanism. The reversible quantitative extraction of Ru, Pd, Pt and Au in system Stirosorb-514 - TBA - 1M HCl in ethanol as eluent was achieved. It was found that resulting eluates do not contain matrix components which may cause spectral interferences on the stage of NMs determination by ICP-MS. The found scheme of NMs reversible sorption was validated by the analysis of certified reference materials of basic and ultrabasic rocks GPt-5, GPt-6 and SARM-7. Good agreement between the measured NMs concentrations and the certified values was demonstrated. The achieved limits of detection for Ru, Pd, Pt and Au vary within 10(-8)-10(-7)wt% range.

[The modern approaches to the determination of the content of elemental impurities in the pharmaceutical substances with the use of inductively-coupled plasma mass-spectrometry].

The elemental impurities contained in the composition of the pharmaceutical dose forms are known to be capable of interacting with their active substances and excipients and of catalyzing their degradation; thereby, they alter stability of the drug products and exert toxic effects on the human tissues. The present publication was designed to report the results of the purity tests for ascorbic acid, valine, and galactose substances by inductively-coupled plasma mass-spectrometry (IBP-MS). This method is recommended for use by the US and EU pharmacopoeias and for the replacement of the traditional test for heavy metals with the use of PbS ethanol suspension.

Specificity of noble metals dynamic sorption preconcentration on reversed-phase sorbents.

The reversible sorption preconcentration of noble metals (NMs) using different schemes "sorbent-reagent-eluent" was investigated. The extraction of Au, Pd, Pt, Ir, Rh and Ru chlorocomplexes from hydrochloric acid solutions on hyper-crosslinked polysterene MN-200 in the form of ion associates with tributylamine (TBA) and 4-(n-octyl)diethylenetriamine (ODETA) was investigated. It was found that Pd, Pt and Au were quantitatively and reversibly extracted using TBA on hyper-crosslinked polysterene; the appropriate eluent for desorption was 1M solution of HCl in ethanol. Ir, Rh and Ru under these conditions were not sorbed quantitatively. It was found that sorbent hydrophobicity is not the main characteristic that defines the efficiency of sorption of a particular NM ion associate. Different efficiencies of hyper-crosslinked polysterene MN-200 for sorption of square-planar chlorcomplexes of Pt, Pd and Au and octahedral complexes of Ir, Rh and Ru were found. For the first time, the sorbents with their own N-atoms - StrataX and StrataX-AW - were used for the sorption of Ir, Rh and Ru. Using these sorbents, the sorption of Ir was increased up to 95%, and the sorption of Ru and Rh was increased to about 40%. We can explain these results by nonspecific interaction of chlorcomplexes of Ir, Rh and Ru with ethylenediamine groups of the sorbent. Weak bases with large anions may be applied for desorption of Ir, Rh and Ru. Two schemes of dynamic sorption preconcentration of NMs from hydrochloric acid solutions were proposed - hyper-crosslinked polysterene MN-200 for the determination of Au, Pd, Pt, and StrataX-AW for Ir, Rh and Ru.

Determination of rare earth elements in rock samples by inductively coupled plasma mass-spectrometry after sorption preconcentration using Pol-DETATA sorbent.

Sorption preconcentration of rare earth elements prior to introduction in inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry is developed. For the first time Pol-DETATA sorbent was used for REEs preconcentration after digestion of wide classes of rock samples. The developed technique is based on lithium metaborate fusion, preconcentration on Pol-DETATA sorbent, elution with nitric acid and flow-injection sample introduction to the ICP-MS spectrometer. The efficiency of REEs extraction from the resulting solutions in the presence of high amounts of iron is examined. 5-sulfosalicylic acid was used as a masking reagent. Flow-injection introduction of 50 µL of eluate obtained after desorption was used to avoid corrosion of the parts of the ICP-MS instrument due to high acidity of the eluate. The accuracy of the developed technique is checked by the analysis of the certified reference materials of rock samples. The REEs recoveries within 85-100% interval were attained for most REEs in tested reference materials.

Investigation of the efficiency of the sample pretreatment stage for the determination of the rare earth elements in rock samples by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry technique.

Different methods of rock sample digestion for final analysis by ICP-MS technique are investigated. It is shown that only basic rocks can be quantitatively digested in a microwave (MW) field with the mixture of HF and HNO(3) acids at 210°C for 60 min. The addition of HCl and H(3)BO(3) provides complete digestion of andesites and some types of granites. Even at maximal temperature in the used MW oven of 210°C syenites, granodiorites and albitized granites are not digested. These types of rocks are not digested in a closed Teflon autoclave for 16 h and can be digested only by fusion with lithium metaborate. The reason for such behavior is discussed. To avoid problems with the introduction of heavily acidic solutions after fusion in ICP the solutions were diluted. To compensate the loss of sensitivity due to the dilution step the REEs (Rare Earth Elements) pre-concentration using aminocarboxylic Pol-DETATA (diethyltriaminetetraacetate) sorbent was tested. The developed scheme is validated by the analysis of a wide range of reference rock materials.

[Peculiarities of health care management and quality control in the subjects of the Russian Federation at the present stage].

The paper is devoted to organizational issues of health care quality control in Russia as at II quarter of 2008. The analysis is made of the organization of this kind of control in the context of the RF subjects with due regard for the system approach on the basis of territorial normative acts. The peculiarities of the legal provision and the organization of health care quality control in the RF subjects permit to divide them into 4 main groups according to the complete coverage of health care quality issues in the documents, and also to assess the influence of the legal provision of these issues on health care quality and the population's opinion.

[Experience in the study of the effects of lead on the health status of children in Belovo]. / Opyt izucheniia vozdeistviia svintsa na sostoianie zdorov'ia detei g. Belovo.

Lead releases in Belovo town containing metallurgy enterprise had reached 120 tons/year earlier, but in recent years have decreased to 9 tons/year. Reduction of the production induced decrease of lead levels in the ambient air from 0.7-2.3 mg/m3 in 1994 to 0.001-0.24 mg/m3. Lead concentration in the soil ranges from 30 to 3000 mg/kg. Lead levels were measured in serum of 91 children, in hair of 67 ones and in teeth of 15 children. Serum lead levels in children aged 7-8 years varied from 0.5 to 39 mg/dl, with an average of 9.9 mg/dl (SD is 5.2 mg/dl), geometric mean is 8.5 mg/dl and error of geometric mean is 3.3. 46% of the children had serum lead levels exceeding the normal one (10 mg/dl). Average lead level in the hair equaled 4.5 mg/g (SD is 4.9 mg/g). The children living in towns with higher environmental lead levels demonstrated more frequent anxiety and changes in higher psychic functions. The major points influencing the serum lead level are proximity to highway, dietary load of goods grown near the residence, mother's smoking. Biokinetic model describing lead transfer into the blood helped to evaluate various modes of the enterprise functioning and efficiency of some environmental protection measures. The most efficient are measures aimed to lower dietary intake of lead, less efficiency is associated with measures reducing lead levels in air, dust and soil.

[Detection of lead in environmental objects and biologic materials during monitoring]. / Opredelenie svintsa v ob"ektakh okruzhaiushchei sredy i biologicheskikh substratakh pri provedenii monitoringa.

The authors specified methods to detect lead in biologic materials. The quality control covered use of Russian and foreign standard samples, the results proved to agree. Lead was detected by AAS technique (direct and flow-type variants with preliminary concentration of lead) and ELRA method. The authors determined measurement limits sufficient for analysis of complex biologic materials. The measurement range for lead varied from 0.002 mg/kg (plants) to 3,000 mg/kg (soil); the range of serum lead levels was < 0.5-39 mg/dl.