Element speciation analysis is the determination of the molecular form of elements such as metals, metalloids and heteroelements in trace amounts in biological and environmental samples. The molecules of interest can be of low molecular mass range and purely of inorganic nature such Cr(III) / Cr(VI) or of organometallic nature such as methylmercury, arsenosugars, tributyltin. Also high molecular mass species such as selenoproteins or metalloproteins, or mercury and arsenic peptide complexes belong to this group.
Work within the Trace Element Speciation Laboratory (tesla) focuses on species of elements such as arsenic, mercury and selenium, which are the key to a better understanding of biological and environmental processes, such as transport of elements from soil into plants, or the species transformation in a food web.
Tesla has specialised in the development of analytical strategies for the determination of those element species in complex matrices. It has at its heart the world-wide unique combination of elemental and molecular mass spectrometry (ES-MS/ICP-MS) hyphenated simultaneously to an HPLC for the identification AND quantification of those element species. In addition state-of-the-art methods for elemental imaging of biological samples using laser ablation ICP-MS, or the determination of volatile metals in natural or landfill gases using GC-ICP-MS have been developed.
Funding from EPSRC, BBSRC, Leverhulme Trust and NERC.
Staff working in this theme: