Isotopic lead measurements in wine and edible oil using inductively coupled plasma with mass spectrometry

Abstract

Lead isotope ratios provide analytical information related to the source of lead contamination in naturally occurring samples. On the other hand, these measurements can provide useful information for routine means of “fingerprinting” the components grown in different habitats. Studies of the isotopic composition of lead are therefore commonly used in the environmental science as well as geological and anthropological studies. Among all the naturally occurring lead isotopes, only ²⁰⁴Pb is non-radiogenic, whereas, ²⁰⁶Pb, ²⁰⁷Pb and ²⁰⁸Pb are the daughter products from the radioactive decay of  ²³⁸U, ²³⁵U and ²³²Th, respectively. As a consequence, small Pb isotope abundance variation occurs in nature and the isotopic composition of lead in the environment is dependent on the local pollution sources. Being able to accurately measure all of the Pb isotopes is important for a number of investigations. In this study, inductively coupled plasma with mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) was used to investigate whether this chemical application can offer a reliable and practical solution to the problem of the polyatomic overlap in the presence of organic based matrix samples. The study summarizes the instrument optimization procedure for Pb isotope measurements in wine and edible oil samples. Also, the isotopic ratios were presented for samples from same and from different geographical region.