Fast and High Sensitive Analysis of Lead in Human Blood by Direct Sampling Hydride Generation Coupled with in situ Dielectric Barrier Discharge Trap

Abstract

A direct sampling hydride generation (HG) system based on modified gas liquid separator (GLS) coupled with in situ dielectric barrier discharge (DBD) is first rendered to detect lead in blood samples. Herein, a triple-layer coaxial quartz tube was employed as DBD trap (DBDT) to replace the original atomizer of atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) to satisfy the in situ preconcentration. After 40-fold dilution, foams generated from protein in a blood sample can be eliminated via the double-GLS set; and lead in a blood sample were generated as plumbane under 3.5% HNO3 (v:v) and 30 g/L NaOH with 8 g/L KBH4, 10 g/L H3BO3, and 5 g/L K3[Fe(CN)6]. Then, lead analyte was trapped on the DBD quartz surface by 9 kV discharging at 50 mL/min air; and subsequently released by 12 kV discharging at 110 mL/min H2. The absolute detection limit (LOD) for Pb was 8 pg (injection volume = 2 mL), and the linearity (R 2 > 0.997) range was 0.05 -50 μg/L. The results were in good agreement with that of blood certified reference materials (CRM), and spiked recoveries for real blood samples were 95 -104% within a relative standard deviation of 5% (RSD). Via gas phase enrichment, the established method improved analytical sensitivity (peak height) by 8 times. The entire analysis time including blood sample preparation can be kept to within 10 min. The combination of modified GLS and DBDT can facilitate the quickness, accuracy, and sensitivity, revealing a promising future for monitoring lead in blood to protect humans, especially children's health.

Atomic spectrometry update: review of advances in the analysis of clinical and biological materials, foods and beverages

“…The researchers presented preliminary result to show the possibility of coupling the capillary liquid electrode discharge microplasma system with OES. The gas-phase pre-concentration in a DBD trap developed by Mao and co-workers, described in last year’s ASU 1 for the determination of As in blood by AFS, has been applied for the determination of Pb in blood 114 and Sb in bottled water. 115 The basis of the method is that following sample preparation, the analyte hydride was generated in a batch reactor by the usual BH-based chemistry and the evolved hydride decomposed on the quartz surface of the DBD trap so that all the element in the original sample volume introduced was collected.…”

Atomic spectrometry update: review of advances in atomic spectrometry and related techniques

“…In contrast, when a DBD is used as a trap it must be coupled with an additional method of VG. Liu et al 34 achieved this by using a traditionally configured system coupled to a DBD for VG of Pb and AFS detection. The PbH 4 generated was trapped on the DBD quartz surface in 50 mL min −1 air with a 28 kHz, 9 kV discharge; and released in 110 mL min −1 H 2 with a 12 kV discharge.…”

Development of a New Sensitive Method for Lead Determination by Platinum-Coated Tungsten-Coil Hydride Generation Atomic Absorption Spectrometry

“…Among these methods, GFAAS and ICPMS are the most commonly used in laboratories. However, GFAAS may encounter problems such as linear range, analytical sensitivity, and matrix interference . In addition, the high cost of graphite tubes limits the use of this method.…”