Atomic spectrometry update: review of advances in elemental speciation

This is the ninth Atomic Spectrometry Update (ASU) to focus on advances in elemental speciation and covers a period of approximately 12 months from December 2015. This ASU review deals with all aspects of the analytical atomic spectrometry speciation methods developed for: the determination of oxidation states; organometallic compounds; coordination compounds; metal and heteroatom-containing biomolecules, including metalloproteins, proteins, peptides and amino acids; and the use of metal-tagging to facilitate detection via atomic spectrometry. The review does not cover fractionation, which is sometimes termed operationally defined speciation. As with all ASU reviews the focus of the research reviewed includes those methods that incorporate atomic spectrometry as the measurement technique. However, because speciation analysis is inherently focused on the relationship between the metal(loid) atom and the organic moiety it is bound to, or incorporated within, atomic spectrometry alone cannot be the sole analytical approach of interest. For this reason molecular detection techniques are also included where they have provided a complementary approach to speciation analysis. As in previous years, As and Se speciation continues to dominate the current literature, with reports of the speciation of Cr and Hg also increasing, and there are an ever rising number of publications concerning the analysis of ‘biomolecules’. Whilst most of this work is still the preserve of the research field some methods are now approaching the robustness and rapidity for use in the clinical setting.