Simultaneous Hydride Generation Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry for the Evaluation of Different Generations of Soybean Seeds

A methodology for simultaneous hydride forming elements was established with accuracy and precision, and alicable to different generations of the soybean seeds. In fact, a unique condition for As, Se, Sb and Te determination by hydride-generation coupled to ICP-MS was established as the optimized concentrations of HCl at 6 mol/L and sodium tetrahydroborate at 0.3% (m v-1), and the analytical curve prepared containing all four elements ranging from 10 to 100 ng L-1. For checking the accuracy, the NIST SRM 1568a (Rice Flour) material was used, and good recoveries ranging from 71.7 to 126% were found for the hydrides forming elements. After optimizing, the method was alied to different generations of soybean seeds, indicating a low content of As (from 17 to 29 ng kg-1) and Se (from 42 to 50 ng kg-1) in some of these generations, and concentrations below the LOQ for Sb and Te. All evaluations were obtained after analyzing, at least, in triplicates. Although found low concentrations for As and Se, these results are, at least, intriguing, because they not follow a tendency along generations, and they are discussed along the text.