Mass spectrometric analysis of these types of soil
extracts for P analysis is not a common technique.
When it
has been used, it has generally taken the form of I
CP-MS; that is, mass spectrometric determination of
elements in
place of optical methods following ICP.
10
Mass spectrometry has also been used for the anal
ysis of speciation of
phosphate compounds after a separation technique.
11
The way in which MS compares to other methods dep
ends on
the amount of bound phosphates that are converted t
o inorganic phosphate during the electrospray proce
ss, because
the m/z of 97 is the only value that contributes to
the phosphorus count. The mass spectrometric anal
ysis described
in this manuscript is a simple electrospray ionizat
ion with a quadrupole detector used to analyze filt
ered extract for
inorganic phosphate as an alternative to the common
colorimetric and ICP methods.