[Speciation analysis of cadmium in cadmium-enriched plants with SE-HPLC combined with ICP-MS and ESI-MS].

Different species of ferns (pyrrosia lingua, Lepisorus thunbergianus, Lycopodium japonicum, Elaphoglossum yoshinagae and Woodwardia japonica) were cultivated using different species of cadmium as cultivation solution. The results showed that there were differences in enrichment amounts of cadmium in different parts of plants (amounts in root > in stem > in leaves). And it was found that different species of cadmium could induce synthesization of plant--chelated peptides (PCs) with different extents. And then PCs was coordinated with cadmium to decrease the toxicity from cadmium. There are some kinds of peptides ligands found in plants, which are mainly PC3, iso-PC3(betaAla) and iso-PC2(betaAla). In the present paper, the distribution of cadmium in different parts of ferns was studied after the ferns were intimidated with different species of cadmium. And the species of PCs-Cd coordination compounds were also investigated to explain the detoxification mechanism aroused by it.

[Determination of copper, chromium and arsenic in wood and its products by high pressure digest-ICP-AES].

Sample preparation was studied, samples were sawn to be sawdust, screened by a 35 mesh sieve, dryed 4-5 h at 105 degrees C, and its homogeneity was tested by variance analysis. Sample pretreatment methods were investigated with wet decomposition, dry ashing, high pressure digest (including microwave-assisted closed digestion and steel liner PTFE vessel digestion). According to the comparative results, wet decomposition is fit for testing soluble copper, chromium and arsenic. Dry ashing and high pressure digest are fit for testing total copper, chromium and arsenic, but arsenic is easy to lose in dry ashing. Acidity effect and matrix effect were discussed. A method was proposed for the determination of total copper, chromium and arsenic in wood and its products by high pressure digest-ICP-AES. The detection limit of copper, chromium and arsenic was 1.2, 0.2 and 7.1 mg x kg(-1), respectively, RSDs were in the range of 0.2%-1.5%, and recoveries were between 92% and 106%. Using this method, more reasonable results will be given for controlling toxic substances from wood and its products and their wastes. This method has been applied to practical sample analysis.

[Effects of root exudates from cucumber and squash on fusarium wilt occurrence].

With the root exudates of two cucumber varieties Jinyan 4 (susceptible variety) and Jinchun 4 (resistant variety) and of black seed squash variety as test materials, this paper studied their effects and action mechanisms on the occurrence of Fusarium wilt on Jinyan 4. The results showed that the occurrence of Fusarium wilt was earlier when treated with the root exudates of Jinyan 4, and the infection rate was significantly higher at 15 days after inoculation, but nearly the same as the control at 20 days after inoculation. On the contrary, the infection rate was significantly lower than the control when treated with the root exudates of Jinchun 4. The plant height and fresh mass of Jinyan 4 treated with its own root exudates were lower than those of the control, and the root vigor decreased but conductance increased. No significant effect was observed in the plant height and fresh mass of Jinyan 4 treated with the root exudates of Jinchun 4 and black seed squash. It could be concluded that the root exudates of susceptible cucumber variety stimulated the growth of Fusarium oxysporum pathogen, while those of resistance cucumber variety and black seed squash were in adverse.

[New approaches to selenium speciation].

A review of the recent developments in selenium speciation analysis was presented, focusing on the techniques of separation, interface, elemental specific detection and identification of selenium species; the methods of sample storage and pretreatment storage for selenium speciation were also introduced.

[High current microsecond pulsed hollow cathode lamp excited ionic fluorescence spectrometry of alkaline earth elements in inductively coupled plasma with a Fassel-torch].

High current microsecond pulsed hollow cathode lamp (HCMP-HCL) excited ionic fluorescence spectrometry (IFS) of alkaline earth elements in inductively coupled plasma (ICP) with a Fassel-torch has been investigated. In wide condition ranges only IFS was observed, whilst atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) was not detectable. More intense ionic fluorescence signal was observed at lower observation heights and at lower incident RF powers. Without introduction of any reduction organic gases into the ICP, the limit of detection (LOD, 3sigma) of Ba was improved by 50-fold over that of a conventional pulsed (CP) HCL with the Baird sleeve-extended torch. For Ca and Sr, the LODs by HCMP-HCL-ICP-IFS and CP-HCL-ICP-AFS show no significant difference. Relative standard deviations were 0.6%-1.4% (0.1-0.2 microg x mL(-1), n = 10) for 5 ionic fluorescence lines. Preliminary studies showed that the intensity of ionic fluorescence could be depressed in the presence of K, Al and P.

[Digital signal acquisition and processing software for atomic fluorescence spectrometry and its application to elemental speciation].

A program was developed to collect and process digital signal by using Visual C++ for atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS). The software solves the data acquisition problem of coupling AFS with HPLC and other successive separation techniques. This program employs three signal processing techniques, i.e. Savitzky-Golay smoothing, Fourier filter and wavelet denoising, to smooth and filter the noisy data. The processes and comparisons of these techniques have been discussed. The program was successfully applied to the preliminary study of Cd speciation by using cation exchange HPLC coupled to AFS, and will provide a new possibility for extending the application of atomic fluorescence spectrometry to the field of elemental speciation analysis.

[Atomic/ionic fluorescence in microwave plasma torch discharge with excitation of high current and microsecond pulsed hollow cathode lamp: Ca atomic/ionic fluorescence spectrometry].

A system of atomic and ionic fluorescence spectrometry in microwave plasma torch (MPT) discharge excited by high current microsecond pulsed hollow cathode lamp (HCMP HCL) has been developed. The operation conditions for Ca atomic and ionic fluorescence spectrometry have been optimized. Compared with atomic fluorescence spectrometry (AFS) in argon microwave induced plasma (MIP) and MPT with the excitation of direct current and conventional pulsed HCL, the system with HCMP HCL excitation can improve AFS and ionic fluorescence spectrometry (IFS) detection limits in MPT atomizer and ionizer. Detection limits (3 sigma) with HCMP HCL-MPT-AFS/IFS are 10.1 ng.mL-1 for Ca I 422.7 nm, 14.6 ng.mL-1 for Ca II 393.4 nm, and 37.4 ng.mL-1 for Ca II 396.8 nm, respectively.