Sample Introduction for ICP-MS and ICP-OES (PDF)

This study used three distinct sample preparation techniques to examine the metal content of geological rocks.

An interview with Charles Wilkins, the winner of the 2013 American Chemical Society Division of Analytical Chemistry Award in Chemical Instrumentation, sponsored by the Dow Chemical Company.

A pioneer of FT-ICR Mass Spectrometry, Alan G. Marshall (1944–2025), is best known for co-inventing Fourier transform ion cyclotron resonance mass spectrometry (FT-ICR MS), a transformative technique that enabled ultrahigh-resolution analysis of complex mixtures. Over a career spanning more than five decades at institutions like the University of British Columbia, The Ohio State University, and Florida State University, he published over 650 peer-reviewed papers and mentored more than 150 scientists. Marshall’s work profoundly impacted fields ranging from astrobiology to petroleomics and earned him numerous prestigious awards and fellowships. Revered for his intellect, mentorship, and dedication to science, he leaves behind a legacy that continues to shape modern mass spectrometry.

In this final part of our conversation with Harrington and Seibert, they discuss the main challenges that they encountered in their study and how we can improve elemental impurity analysis in pharmaceutical quality control.

In Part II of our conversation with James Harrington of RTI International in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, who was the lead author of this study, as well as coauthor Donna Seibert of Kalamazoo, Michigan, they talk about the reproducibility for Hg and V, as well as the ICP-MS and XRF results compare to one another.

In this extended Q&A interview, we sit down with Kelsey Williams, a postdoctoral researcher at Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), who is working on planetary instrumentation using spectroscopic techniques such as laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) and laser ablation molecular isotopic spectrometry (LAMIS). In the final part of our conversation with Williams, she discusses how laser-based spectroscopic techniques might be used in the future to advance space exploration.