Atomic spectrometry update: review of advances in elemental speciation

Abstract

This is the 17th Atomic Spectrometry Update (ASU) to focus on advances in elemental speciation and covers a period of approximately 12 months from January 2024. This ASU review deals with all aspects of analytical atomic spectrometry speciation methods developed for: the determination of oxidation states; organometallic compounds; coordination compounds; metal and heteroatom-containing biomolecules, including metalloproteins, proteins, peptides and amino acids; and the use of metal-tagging to facilitate detection via atomic spectrometry. As with all ASU reviews, the focus of the research reviewed includes those methods that incorporate atomic spectrometry as the measurement technique, although molecular detection techniques are also included where they have provided a complementary approach to speciation analysis. The number of publications covered this year has increased since last year but remains relatively low compared to many of the years that this ASU has been published for. However, there is a good breadth of elements covered, with the most popular elements still being As, Hg and Se, although there is little novelty in the analytical approaches employed, which reflects the maturity of elemental speciation analysis, and over 25 elements are covered in total, including a growing number of papers covering essential macro and trace elements, such as Fe and Mn and P, and S as a heteroatom in proteins. The advent of ICP-MS/MS instrumentation, allowing for the cost-effective quantification of S as SO at m/z 48, thus negating the ¹⁶O₂ interference is probably behind the rise in papers on this element once again, the quality of the abstract for many of the papers is poor, with details on the methodology, key results with data included, conclusions and implications thereof missing. This is likely to lead to fewer researchers reading the article or considering it for reviews such as those produced by the ASU.