Determination of heavy metals in four traditional Chinese medicines by ICP-MS

Objective: To establish a ICP-MS method for the determination of heavy metals, including As, Hg, Ib, Cd, in four traditional Chinese medicines. Method: The samples were digested by closed-versel microwave. The four heavy metals were directly analyzed by ICP-MS. Select internal standard element In for the method by which the analyse signal drife is corrected by the signal of another element (internal standard elements) added to both the standard solution and sample. Result: For all of the analyzed heavy metals, the correlative coefficient of the calibration curves was over 0.999 2. The recovery rates of the procedure were 97.5%-108.0%, and its RSD was lower than 11.6%. Conclusion: This method was convenient, quick-acquired, accurate and highly sensitive. The method can be used for the quality control of trace elements in traditional Chinese medicines and for the contents determination of traditional Chinese medicines from different habitats and species