Abstract:

An analytical method was established for the determination of 10 heavy metal elements including Cr, Mn,
Co, Ni, Cu, As, Cd, Sb, Hg and Pb in carboxymethyl cellulose sodium as a food stabilizer using microwave digestion and
inductively coupled plasma-mass spectrometry (ICP-MS) with octopole reaction system (ORS). Samples were digested
with HNO3 and H2O2 followed by dilution with ultrapure water. Then, 10 elements in the solution were analyzed directly
by ICP-MS. ORS was successfully applied to eliminate interferences from polyatomic ions. Sc, Y, In and Bi as internal
standard elements were used to compensate matrix effect and signal drift. The optimal conditions for the determination were
evaluated. Under the optimal conditions, the detection limits of 10 elements were in the range of 0.003–0.043 μg/L and the
relative standard deviation (RSD) was less than 3.06%, showing the established method to be precise. The presented method
is applicable for quality control and safety evaluation of CMC-Na as a food stabilizer.

Key words: inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), octopole reaction system (ORS), food stabilizer, carboxymethyl cellulose sodium, heavy metal elements