Determination of Trace Elements in Tobaccos by Microwave Digestion/ICP-MS Method

2 mL 50% HNO3 and 1 mL 47% H2O2 were chosen for tobaccos digestion, and the acidity of final digestion solution was confined to about 2%. Standard solutions were diluted with 2% HNO3. The digestion solutions were determined by ICP-MS directly after adding internal standard elements Ge and Rh. In stead of using concentrated acid, this method not only can leave out the process of drying or dilution and extended the life of relevant components of the instrument, but also eliminate the errors of the inconsistency between digestion solutions and standard solutions could be eliminated. The contents of 30 trace elements, the results of eight representatives of which were provided, in tobaccos from seven areas were determined. The detection limits of measured elements were from 0.006 to 1.133 ng center dot mL(-1). The relative standard deviations were from 0.90% to 5.66%. The recovery rates of two elements (Cu, Y) were from 93% to 102%. The results showed that this method proposed could be applied to multielement simultaneous determination of tobaccos, and there is a deep relationship between the contents of the trace elements and the production place and classification of tobaccos.