Using CO₂ Reactions to Achieve Mass-Spectrometric Discrimination in Simultaneous Plutonium-Isotope Speciation with Inductively Coupled Plasma–Tandem Mass Spectrometry

Simultaneous isotope speciation of various Pu isotopes is difficult to achieve with conventional inductively coupled plasma–mass spectrometry (ICP–MS) owing to isobaric interferences. In analyzing ICP tandem MS (ICP–MS/MS), CO2 gas reactions in a dynamic reaction cell (DRC) almost eliminated the background noise intensity produced by isobaric interference from isotopes originating from actinides such as Am, Cm, and U at the locations (m/z) of significant Pu isotopes (239Pu, 240Pu, 241Pu, 242Pu, and 244Pu). Inductively coupled plasma–tandem mass spectrometry with CO2 gas reactions in a dynamic reaction cell almost eliminated the background noise intensity produced by isobaric interference from isotopes originating from actinides such as Am, Cm, and U at the locations (m/z) of significant Pu isotopes (239Pu, 240Pu, 241Pu, 242Pu, and 244Pu).