engleski

Analysis of metals and metalloids in plant materials – a short overview

Quantification of major and trace metals and metalloids in various plant materials is of a great interest of researchers of various science branches worldwide, because the roles that such chemical elements (can) have in the context of a food chain and, consequently, human's metabolism. A procedure of analysis of toxic metals consists of the steps as follows: (1) sample collection, (2) storage, (3) sample preparation for measurement, (4) quantification of the selected analytes (‘measurement’), (5) calculation and expression of the results, and (6) interpretation of the results (Fig. 1). Only accurate and appropriate approach to each of the analytical steps can yield accurate and precise results of an analysis. Thus, a procedure of collecting of samples should be designed in such a manner to preserve that an aliquot reflects the properties of the population. Also, the samples should be handled and stored appropriately to avoid their contamination or possible losses of the analytes [2]. Analytical techniques that are dominantly used for quantification of metals and metalloids in the samples of environmental interest nowadays require a transfer of the analytes into the water solution state, therefore a selection of a solubilization method (reagent and conditions) is an important step that is related to the samples characteristics but also to the research goals [1, 2-4]. The last part of a laboratory work in such a research is a quantification of the analytes, and in this context various atomic spectrometric techniques are widespread in use (e.g. ICP-AES(OES), ICP-MS). In the expose a brief presentation of the dominant practice as well as a discussion of challenging aspects and requirements of a procedure will be given.

plant material ; trace elements ; sample preparation ; spectrometrical techniques

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