Determination of Boron in Silicate Samples by Direct Aspiration of Sample HF Solutions into ICPMS

A rapid and precise technique for the determination of boron content in silicate rocks was developed by employing isotope dilution inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry with a flow injection system (FI-ID-ICPMS). The sample was decomposed with HF and mannitol, dried to remove silicon as gas, and redissolved with HF to extract boron from the fluoride residue. Ultimately, the HF solution was directly aspirated into the ICPMS. The total procedural blank was 0.08-0.36 ng. No matrix-induced mass discrimination was observed in the rock solution for dilution factors of up to 110. The present method is capable of determining 1 μg g^-1 boron in a 1 mg silicate rock sample with blank correction of <20%. Replicate analyses of USGS rock standards, PCC-1, BCR-1, and AGV-1, and GSJ rock standards, JB-1, JB-2, JB-3, JA-1, JA-2, and JA-3, yielded reproducibilities (RSD) of <2%. These results were identical with those obtained by ID thermal ionization mass spectrometry within the analytical errors. These results indicate that the present method allows the precise determination of the boron content in a small sample of silicate materials with simple handling, resulting in the extremely low procedural blank of boron.