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

Abstract

This Update covers publications from the second half of 2023 to the middle of 2024, related to the analysis of clinical specimens, food and beverages and including reviews discussing specific aspects and future perspectives. The pursuit of lower detection capabilities continues to promote further research. Some works have focussed on vapour generating techniques for trapping and preconcentration prior to instrumental analysis and many more on the extraction and preconcentration of elements during the sample preparation step. The synthesis and application of nanomaterials play an important role for these developments. The interest in reagents for green chemistry was the subject of several reviews, and, increasingly, researchers are discussing the environmental impact and sustainability of new methods. In terms of analytical instrumentation, the performances of MICAP-OES were thoroughly assessed on various complex matrices, confirming the technique as highly robust to interferences and with detection capabilities similar to ICP-OES. The N₂-MICAP-MS, which is free from Ar-based polyatomic interferences, was applied to human serum and food samples, although with no significant advantage. There was continued interest in applications of scICP-TOF-MS for the evaluation of more than one characteristic of the same individual cell. The determination of isotope ratios in biological matrices was carried out by high precision MC-ICP-MS. The interest in single cell and single particle analysis and the determination of nanoparticles resulted in the publication of multiple papers specifically reviewing the development in these areas, from which the need emerged to apply multiple techniques and promote standardisation. Multielement techniques (LIBS and XRF) are increasingly applied both in the clinical and food area. Several papers reported new applications of LIBS for disease diagnosis, based on complex statistical modelling methods, whereas others have focussed on techniques to enhance its sensitivity and precision for the analysis of biological, food and water samples. Portable LIBS instrumentation offers potential for a wider application in forensic and food sciences, if calibration strategies and method validation could be improved. The indirect detection of low concentrations of molecules of clinical interest after element-tagging represents a rapidly expanding field. Applications of atomic spectrometry to food and beverages continue to grow, especially in relation to sustainable diets and food supplements. The trend of investigations of authenticity/provenance of foodstuffs using multielement profiles continues. The quality of analytical measurements should be of the utmost importance, however still too often such information is insufficient. We therefore highlight the analysis of CRMs in the papers discussed in this Update and report publications addressing interlaboratory comparisons and new CRMs.