ICP-MS: Babington vs Crossflow Nebulisers

[Yowie]

Hi

For ICPMS analysis on biological sample (whole blood, serum, urine), do users have a preference for which nebuliser system (Babington vs CrossFlow)?

Thanks

[LALman]

Depends on the Babington but crossflow nebulizers are more resistant to salting up. On the other hand, the Babington can give lower detection limits and in some systems, the rinsing procedure keeps salting up from being a problem.

I had a Babington nebulizer option on my HP-4500 ICP-MS and it was superb for dealing with 2%nitric-1%hydrochloric acid digestates of soil samples at effectively a 500X dilution of soils and for waters a 50X to as low as 1X dilution. I've run a couple of Perkin Elmer systems with the standard cross flow nebulizer. The latest being a PE Elan 6000 ICP-MS. Its not as sensitive by a factor of 5-10. But it never salts up either. But it is important to choose a good rinse solution and long enough rinse time.

I am not familiar with running blood or tissue samples for metals. The only tissue samples I ever ran were crawdad tails for mercury. All my samples except drinking water were digested by closed vessel microwave. If you are willing to fully digest a blood sample, I don't think it should be a problem for either nebulizer.